Eye Spy is Back to defend its win from the last Race with Trev,Jill,Mark and JK. The Forecast is Light Winds,occasional Showers and Horrendous Tides (3.6 - 3.7metres)which all came to pass. With an outgoing tide it is a quick trip from Hobby to Sharpies for a clean.Boy,is Eye Spy dirtyit takes a long time to remove all the Barnacles! After the clean off,We go to Westhaven Marina to pickup Jill,who has driven to town,have lunch and get ready for the race. Whilst ashore we notice that all the gates to the Pontoons have a sign "WARNING Sea Leopard sighted in Marina".Hope we don’t meet up with it as they can be real unfriendly! The Course is Start at Westhaven,Torpedo Buoy,Westhaven,Chelsea,Bayswater,Westhaven, Chelsea,Stanley Buoy and Finish at Westhaven,all to Starboard. Off to the Start with #1 headsail as this is a White Sails Race only.We start in the middle of the fleet behind Flojo,Prince Hal and Peppermint Planet (a Young 11).We do battle with with Peppermint Planet and after several attempts finally pass them. (To be fair they are 2-up and have a dirty hull).At the First Mark,Flojo,Prince Hal,Us and Peppermint Planet are close together with the other boats (Including a Farr 1020) a fair distance behind. With the tide now starting to come in we make good time to Westhaven then Chelsea. By Chelsea the fleet has split,we are behind Flojo and Prince Hal (Stewart 34) but well ahead of the others.We round Chelsea Buoy and head for Bayswater Buoy.With their big headsail Prince Hal pulls away from us very quickly.Its a slow run down the harbour as the incoming tide has rapidlyincreased.After the bridge we are isolated,Flojo and Prince Hal are well ahead the rest well behind, Oh well,On on.After rounding Bayswater we are radioed the course is shortened and we finish at Westhaven Buoy. We finished 3rd on Line 2nd to Prince Hal on Handicap,Grrrr After Prize giving,a feed and refreshments at the Richmond Yacht Club we watch the Start to the Friday Night Rum race. we then head home after saying goodbye to Jill who is driving back in peak hour traffic. With the Tide now roaring in its a quick trip home.It Takes about an hour which must be an all-time record for Eye Spy under motor! All in all another great day sailing "Downtown",especially as the tides were favorable there and Back *** Last year Eye spy came 4th in the Emergency services regatta... and 3rd in 2014. Well done to Trevor and his crew for another excellent result !!!!!**** |
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