Race Report from Phil Shaw on Satisfaction Ahhhh...so heres how my cunning master plan was to work. Being a ladies race I figured I'd get a dozen fair maidens onboard to do all the work, sit back in the bean bags ..... and 'advise'. "Alas, how the best laid plans of mice and men soon become unstuck"......Ratty from Wind in the Willows. Only managed to get Jude on the day as helmswoman, and I ended up doing all the grunting. Never the less, we got a fair start and followed Nona all day with an ever increasing gap back to Bluevein and Spyster. Finally on the last homeward bound leg Nona valiantly hoisted her kite into a fickle wind that turned on them, lost the nice momentum they had enjoyed....and we satisfied them. With both our GPS and depth sounder screaming low water, we passed Nona with two seconds to spare on the finish line, a very satisfactory day! C'mon BR....7.2 m?...maybe 2.7m. Race Report from Denise Ellis on Nona The sun was shinning, the breeze was waffling and all was well. Then the start gun went. As the first boat away we made a slow start as to encourage the pack. The breeze seemed to move through the sphere of NW to SW- 6 to 16 knots. The moored boats were sitting across the slack tide and the mud banks narrowed the race track somewhat but what a lovely day to be on the water. We led satisfaction all the way around the track then snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Heading home on the last leg we thought we would do something different and hoisted a spinnaker. The wind promptly swung onto the nose. In with the spinnaker relatively smoothly but the distraction was enough for Satisfaction to run us down and cross the line 2 secs ahead. Bummer. Score card reads -tried hard but will do better. Roll on the Golden Rivet show down. Race report from Trevor May on EYE SPY: Ladies Race: Jos Ford put her hand up to helm EYE SPY in this prestigious race. Great I thought……..this should be good. As it’s a Mark-foy, we may be able to catch those who leave before us and be in the money. But no……..not much chance in catching another 88 who leaves 8 minutes earlier eh. Jos and I were on board with plenty of time to discuss tactics and choose sail wardrobe. At times we saw pressure which would suggest the number two headsail but we opted for the number one to configure for the lulls. I reckon Jos just wanted me to work hard. Our start was not as good as I thought it was…….may be coz we were distracted by the other 88 being up at the top mark already. Anyhow…….it took me a little time to get the trim right but Jos picked up the feel of the helm and a chasing we went. We were over-powered a couple of times but all n all we chose the correct sail as we slowly pegged back Debbie and Gazza on Blue Beat. On the second time back to Ranger rock we were on their tail and squeezed by prior to rounding the ODM. Big smile on Jos's dial…….. A perfect day for a sail and very nice to come back to a club full of friendly faces and an open bar. Well done team. Thanks for helming Jos……... |
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