August Series - (Monday 23/8)

Windy....really windy....we've had races cancelled in a lot less wind at WSC before! As we made our way to the start line we had a minimum 22kts, with gusts of 29kts (and probably more!). A short beat with the number 2 genoa confirmed that we also need a slab in the main (as much as I hate reefing, it was the right thing to do in that much breeze), then we settled down to watch the other classes start.

It was pretty obvious there was a massive pin end bias, the squibs and V class started at the CB and barely laid the pin once close hauled, and the wind was still swinging left. first job to persuade the skipper in pin bias (easy tonight!), next job to persuade him we need to start on port tack (never easy!). With two minutes to go it was clear we we're the only boat trying the port tack flyer, the rest of the fleet we're way out to the right of the start line, this settled our nerves nicely and we began our approach to the line. Once again Clive proved his credentials as the best starter of the three Scoline owners, bang on the pin at the gun and crossed the whole fleet, the fifth time we have tried that this season, and the fifth time we have crossed the whole fleet (you'd have thought by now the other guys in the fleet would be keeping an eye on us in pre-start!), with hindsight we should have tacked back on to stbd as soon as we had crossed the fleet, but we we're gambling on the wind phasing back to the right, we separated from the fleet too much and a few of them made some gains by going far left (again!).

We rounded O in second place behind RWH, with FarrOut about 7-8 boat lengths back, and Sapphire probably 5 boat lengths behing them. The wind was still in the high 20s with big gusts so we decided to 2 sail reach down to B (great course, OBM is probably the biggest triangle they could have set us), we had 6.5kts of boat speed with the two sails, probably could have had 8-9 with the kite, but doubt we would have maintained enough height to get to B.

Behind us we watched FarrOut hoist the 'Touareg', their SB3 spinnaker, as we watched it flogging, and pulling them sideways we laughed out loud.....we had visions of them pulling that thing back in in shreds! Next time we look over our shoulder they had halved the gap, the wind had dropped by nearly 10kts and we were massively underpowered, FarrOut was on a sleigh ride and easily passed us just before B, they had managed to bank enough height to go very wide around us, which was a wise choice, if they came in close I think we would have taken them to the Spyglass for a pint!! Given the drop in wind we had no choice but to hoist the kite for the leg from B to M, but there was no chance of us passing Farr Out with that Assy. We would have to wait until the upwind leg.

We had height and speed over Farr Out on the slug back up to the finish line, but Sapphire had height and speed on us, forcing us into a tack to avoid getting squeezed out to the port layline. A few nice close tacks between us, Sapphire and Farr Out followed, with positions changing all the way up to the finish line, we just got the advantage crossed the line ahead of both of them, and watched Farr Out sail an extra 300yds or so to cross the line at the pin end, however, they had done enough, having the kahunas to hoist the assy in 25+kts of breeze made up for it and they took an easy and well deserved win ahead of RWH (who we didn't even see after the start!) and us in 3rd.

Hopefully this is a new era for the club letting us race in lots of breeze - everybody coped really well with the conditions and the beer always tastes better when you've earned it!

Looking forward to seeing the video from the Safety Boat of the start!!