So, naff all wind greeted the Ent, GP14 and Wayfarer sailors this morning for the annulal Hollowel open... Luckily by the time the boats were unloaded and the 1st cups of tea drunk, the breeze started to fill in and by the time of the briefing we were in the midst off what looked like a nice breeze...but, it was coming through over round and under the trees :-(
So, race 1 wind 3 - 4 maybe, gusty, shifty (as always)... first start we all stacked up nicelt...and went too early... by a long way! hmmm, general recall and I guess the GP's were wondering if they'd ever get a race!
2nd start and we had a pretty good one, got upto the top mark (damned short 'n shifty beat) 2nd (i think), Johnny in the lead with us with the P&B boyz (again) and Ian Friswell all battling around.. Ian got past us and on the enxt beat, complaining of weed on the rudder/centreboard, he, despite my "complaint" tacked on us twice.. that damned weeds got a mind of its own! So trying to keep in some clear wind and vaguely sail our own race, "we" let Johnny sail off into a comfortable leade and basically we went backwards over the course of the next 3 laps... ending up 5th boo-hoo from such a promising 1st beat... Johnny won, Barry came through into 2nd I think with the IAn 3rd and P&B's 4th...
So, pre-ordered sarnies eaten, soup consumed and orange drunk (then I sneaked off and had some go-fast cake!) we launched and went off for another 3-4 wind up down round 'n round race... We all got off to a good start, 1st time... again another pretty good start and 1st beat, the race was mostly a precession, bit closer racing this time, and on the last reach, with us in second and Martin in 3rd, we noticed Johnny fell in a hole (only the top of his head could be seen), so low doesnt pay we thought... jib stick down, harden up, stick with the breeze... as we gunned Johnny down, he did the decent thing and luffed uas, luckily we had sufficient pace to eak passed him and get back down to the mark withought leting Martin get passed us both, so round the bottom mark, good rounding and blasted in some nice breeze up to the finish... at one point it looked like Martin may flook his way up the inside, but the shift prevailed and we got our 1st bullet of the day....
Now things were gonna get interesting!
So with a few boats vying for 1st place and a shed load more vying for 2-6tth or so all in very tight contention, we had a brief? break and then went out for the showdown!
Race 3 got off withought a hitch, new course, but same short 1st beat, we had a fair beat, rounded the mark in second, and dispite advances from th P&B Boyz and Bazza et al we, with Johnny clear in fron, led a procession round the last race.. So, we didn't win, but we did do what we needed to keep second, so not a bad day at the office...
Showered, boat away, can of cold beer each and some nice "tea" to eat, laid on by the club members, we went into the prize giving, speaches and receiving of bottles of wine... nice..
So, ta James for another good day, fingers crossed for a damned good one at Draycote in 2 weeks time, although its bound to blow, rain and be the first time all year we've seen polar bears on the foreshore.... its always like that....
Results
1st Johnny & Alex
2nd Ant & James
3rd Bazza & Jules
4th Martin Davies & Laurance
5th Ian Friswell &
6th Peter & Steve
7th Youngy & Ali
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