Sailing Club

Tell Tales

Sometimes you just have to start with a bit of poetry and today I think we should start this week’s story with something from John Masefield’s poem Sea Fever “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky. And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. And the wheel’s kick and wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking. And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking”.

Friday saw a fresh easterly whip up a very boisterous sea state but luckily by Saturday morning it had backed off to about 10 knts, improving things immensely. But one thing that would play a small part was the tide going from .3 at 10am to 2.2 by race end. Meaning top mark rounding would need to be accurate or the consequences would be serious!

Gary and Angelika, who had graciously stepped in to do the duty at the last minute, gave a quick briefing and off we all trotted to a 75° upwind, port course. The wind, which had a fair chance of being chased away by a warming day, stayed around the 7knt mark but did register 11 on at least one occasion.

The start line was short and Skifflebeat had the boat end closely followed by Euffamism. While the three down the other end pushed their luck and might have been lucky the starters were feeling gracious towards any indiscretions, perhaps? 10+1 started 1 minute after the smaller boats but would find the wind just too light for their needs, but enjoyed their day out just the same.

The first up wind was one of the closest of the season with 5 boats not much more than 20 mts apart at the top. Affrodite was out front but being pushed hard by State of the Arc with April Dancer, Euffamism and Skifflebrat right there. First reach was tight but spinnaker-able with the odd wave to take advantage of, but with plenty of side slop still on the surface to snag the inattentive.

Second reach felt squarer but the sea condition and side on swell meant it would be hard work each time. And the chase between competitors was relentless. Affro has been sailing well and Tim/ Chris didn’t change the game plan. SotA, who had a bit of a rig tune-up prerace, was also having a very good race. These two had opened a small lead on AD, Euffa and Skivvybeat.

By the third triangle there had been a couple of lead changes behind the leaders between Euffa and AD but at the last top rounding AD was able to pull clear after a jib sheet calamity on Euffa let them slip away.                     

Results

Life is good. Come Sailing!

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