Saturday was a make up day for the Winter Series which was cut short due to high winds a few weeks back. Six J24s made it out to the start line - and for once the Etchells had more boats on the water than we did. That is not something you see that often.
The forecast was 15-20 knots blowing from the NW, forecast to move to NNW. I was filling in on Sadiiqi as my helmsman was taking a well-deserved baby-break. Instead of the usual foredeck duties on Solaise I was conscripted to do winches and fly the kite, which was a challenge. Before the racing we practiced with the Genoa, only to find ourselves a little overpowered, so we switched to blade and prepared for the start.
The first race was a 3 lap affair. We were trucking on the upwinds, picking off the shifts, and we rounded the first mark close to the front. The wind died off briefly, prompting thoughts of a sail change, but then came back on, saving some effort for the foredeckers. We seemed to lose ground on the downwinds and on takedowns, though, and finished the race in 4th behind Gripper. New Wave got the bullet with Siren in second spot.
The second race was 2 laps. We had a great first upwind, rounding the mark in second, but despite early preparations our spinnaker douse at the end of the first downwind leg didn’t go quite as planned. Technical issues meant that at the mark rounding our chute was still full, but underwater. That pretty well slowed us to a standstill, and gave the RC a grandstand view of our shrimping efforts. By the time we had recovered the entire fleet had passed us, and we hadn’t even caught any fish for the BBQ that evening. In the race Trevor Boyce in New Wave consolidated his lead to take his second bullet of the day, and 4th of the series. Gripper finished in second and Siren 3rd.
So that was the series finished, but the RC still ran a third race - which presumably was for fun as no amendment had been posted extending the series from 6 to 7 races. Our effort to port tack at the start did not quite pay off - New Wave protested us and, even though there was discussion concerning whether they were changing course and therefore give-way boat at the time, we did our turns. A brief 2 lap affair again saw New Wave dominate, with Siren taking second with Pete Backeberg driving. Gripper finished third.
So overall New Wave won the series convincingly from Gripper in second then Siren in third. A great day’s racing with good breeze, a number of bruises and some abuse back at the RHADC after our fishing efforts using the chute. Yes, we would go faster if there were holes in it. No, we don’t have any red snapper for dinner.
At that point it was time for some of Phil’s “Loud-mouth soup”, and as the rain came in we retired inside for comfortable seats and to lick our wounds.