Who was out this weekend?.....

Originally posted by Villan

   Tough Sunday afternoon.  The morning was OK - a bit breezy and I crewed whilst Sonja helmed for the Ladies Race.  Sonja's a fantastic Laser helm with many trophies but she was a bit intimidated by the 4000 in a breeze but after a capsize we settled down and were first boat home (which we should be since our nearest rival was a Buzz).
The Medway threw its worse at us in the afternoon. Not that the wind was that strong (about a 5) but it was wind against tide and the chop was steep.  We flew down Gillingham Reach with just 2 sails and were debating if we should carry the gennaker but it was a bit tight.  A 29er got a bit ahead and a 800 had trouble and so was also only just ahead as too was a MPS - all else were capsised or appeared to have retired.  Just as we approached the first gybe I realised that all those in front were swimming and they hadn't reached the gybe mark.  This was when we buried the bow but we survived and then we did it again and again.  Only the last time was deep and the boat was completely buried and stopped, rounded up and capsised.  When we righted our bottom batten was hanging out of pocket of our brand new jib.
We got going headed for the shallows and wore round in flat water heading for the next mark.  We could have carried the kite but thought that safety might be the way to win the race and so didn't.  We gybed at the next mark as the water was flatter and did the loop in the course, however we declined the next 2 loops which would take us back into the chop and sailed home to retire.
Very few finished the race but amongst them was the 2 Contenders - I'm impressed.  Sadly that result completes the series and gives us 8th overal out of about 24.  That's a bad result for us - must do better next time.  The good news is that we are getting 2 more 4000s in the fleet - so we may get as many as 5 or 6 out on some occasions.