autumn series 2010 review

aut 1   dnc just got back from worlds

aut 2   dnc dodgy easterly and winds did not travel

aut 3   raced  3RD ON THE WATER  4th overall

aut 4   race duty

aut 5  did  not race working

aut 6  NO RACE bad weather  TBC

aut 7 DID NOT TRAVEL easterly predicted 17-24 knts   didn't arrive

aut 8 5th on the water  7th overall

aut 9 4th on the water  5th overall

aut 10 DID NOT TRAVEL weather did not look nice

autumn 241010

The weather was cold but sunny, wind was expected to be 12knts + a good turn out for the penultimate race of the season, even jorg turned out to race !! and actually started and got to the mark almost in first place.

The tide was going out  and fairly strong and we knew from prev races that we had to tack at the right place or our race would be over, we also started a good run up to the line with good boat speed, unlike before we would be too far back and then struggle to get going.

We followed mark and mike and nick and martin,

we took the first wind shift well and made it to our advantage, tacked off and found our self in a good position in the fleet, we got to the mark in 2nd or 3rd but messed up on the tide, we went back onto starboard to re round the mark much to m chems dissaproval.

We got around but the mark but on the reach found mike doing a 360  as he had hit the mark blaming us for messing him up. poppycock is all i say  because he went around us and past the mark, he just didnt allow for the tide pushing him back, we overtook him and on the first downwind he went lower than us and came out in 3rd we were 5th.

Going around 4 rich called the shot and we didnt make the pin  however we were beating down the line  and i decided  hey lets carry on right and go out to sea, we got pushed back a little and we were all on our own, i said if it works we will do ok  if it did  not our race was over. We tacked and came in at a good speed and richard even went out on the wire as well, we came out on the mark in 4th spot and looked as if we were gaining on the top 3. We discovered we had got infront of mark and we couldnt believe what we had just done. We kept our heads and tried to finnish the race off and hold 4th spot, with the wind dying in places we managed it, however on the very last tack off 4 i did fluff it by moving over too soon and the boat didnt tack.

It was soon remedied and we crossed the line, we were very pleased with what we had done and were praised on the beach by the ones we had beat and others.

When things go right you gain a lot of satisfaction, a simple moment like this made my season, what can we do if we really try and pratice more, next week is the last race, what will it hold in store for us. 

autumn series 8 2010

the season is almost over, the weather is colder, the outside temperature said -1c all the way down to the coast today, at least it was sunny and bright and i was keen to get back on the boat.
the beach was full of seaweed and boat space was limited because of it.
richard arrived and surprised i was there saying it was too cold to go sailing  lol
the wind was NE swinging around to NW and the swell was fairly big, but it was ok for me. we managed to surf a few of them no problem. the start seemed messed up as we went with what i thought was a minute to go  so i guess the timekeepers got it wrong or they never sounded the start of the 3 mins
we made a good start near the committee boat and trailed martin and mike, the pin was biased to the right by a long way, mike tacked onto port and expected everyone on starboard to do the same, we did or a collision would have occurred as we had nowhere to go, he did us a favor really as we seemed to be doing better than the others. when we got to mark 1 we all stopped and the rest of the fleet all bunched up, mark martin and mike all rounded and we followed and went right, martin then gybed off into the middle as this was clearly the best way with the tide going out. we rounded mark 4 in 5th place after nick and shaun gained a spot as well.
we stayed together for a lap or so and then greg was looming fast, he had caught up well, we tried to keep calm and not make mistakes ,coming off mark 4 he was right on our rudders, we tacked off and so did he , it was now a straight blast to the pin end of the line to finnish, he was ahead and then i altered course for more boatspeed and got to the line  looked over and seen that i was  infront,  the hooter went off BEEP..BEEP, so i knew it was close, greg thought he had it, i knew we had beat him,it was a good race for me and richard as we made no mistakes, its a shame the season is ending so soon.