Who was out this weekend?.....

I just got back from our evening race i forgot that i do have a swim every now and then still only four swims and still came second wind was between 20 to 25 knots wind against tide so some nice waves to play with .What a great sail it was !!!!!!!!

You are on starboard tack, so your sheet is in your right hand.  Push the wiggly stick away from you, put your left foot across the boat and assume the 'superman' position ie your left arm is straight and following your left hand across the boat.  As your left hand arrives over the gunnel/wing you must now wave to the fishes (thus ensuring your tiller hand has travelled far enough)

At the same time you will have swivelled your backside round whilst facing forwards (the pointy end) and will now be sitting on the new side (port) with your left hand still holding the wiggly stick thing behind your back.  (You will have centered the wiggly stick thing as you heard the battens pop indicating the sail has filled on the new side.)

You can now bring the hand that is till holding the sheet back to take the wiggly stick whilst still holding the sheet,, and move your left hand forward to take the sheet.

Take your stuff home and practice on some chairs or your sofa.

Meanwhile, lessons learnt the hardway #234422398327209320973

Check check check! Make sure you have everything, and have spares of most things. Don't assume the shear pin to lock the rudder down is still bungeed to the rudder stock, else you'll battle your way out through the moorings in a fantastic onshore breeze, superb conditions for your boat, only to discover that you've not got it or a spare, and have to head in without even popping the kite (as the rudder WILL kick up if you something daft like that).

Originally posted by alstorer Originally posted by G.R.F. guring what to do with my hands during the rope wigglestick handover.. Don't change hand till you're sat down, steering with your hand behind your back. Bring sheet hand onto the tiller, hold both tiller and sheet in that hand, bring other hand in front of your body to take the sheet, then bring the tiller in front of your body. Practice, repeat, until it becomes a smooth operation that complete as you sit down. Unless anyone else has bright advice on this?

Get in a Blaze and try it, I found that almost impossible when i had mine so I went back to the tested technique of swapping behind my back as I went across. I worked pretty well!. I would not want to be worrying about getting out on the wing then having to change hands if I can be done before then.

Had a great sail on Saturday, apart from two incidences but they made the recovery even more special.

1st race decided to hold position against the spring tide on the startline holding out on the starboard end of the line. Took my eye off of things for a few too many seconds and ended up in irons 20secs before the start. 1 minute after the start I eventually got out of irons and unleashed a monster effort to get back to the front of the pack by the end of the 1st beat, pheww!!!

2nd race, pulled off an awesome start, leaving the competition way behind only to misjudge the topography of the shoreline halfway along the 1st beat, thanks to the rather large spring tide. Sailed into what looked like a bay, tacked, straight out onto the wire, upto full speed then whammm!!!! around the forestay. Hit the water looked around and the boat was still upright with the leeward wing sitting just on the surface of the water. Looked at myself and realised I was now sitting on the bottom in only two inches of water. Further investigation included spotting tufts of grass poking out above the water. I eventually pieced it all together and realised the bay was infact an inlet that runs parallel to the river and I'd tried to sail across the spit which only submerges in high spring tides, doh!!!
Boat suffered a few chips to the daggerboard trailing edge, and the sikaflex wedge in the back of the case appears to have absorbed most othe impact. Eventually waded out of the inlet and 1 and a half legs behind Phil Underwood in his 700, about a leg behind the 29er and 500, decided I needed to do something special. Got upto the windward mark and bore away onto the reach, had enough height on the wing mark to hoist, gybe past the mark and flew to the leeward mark where I caught the Buzz, 29er and 500. The next upwind and downwind legs everything went right, I nailed all the tacks, hoists, gybes and drops. By the next downwind leg I was half a leg behind Phil and he was still thinking he had it in the bag. He dropped conservatively and hardened up onto the penultimate upwind leg, while I flew in like a man possessed, gybe dropped on the mark, and was within 10 boat lengths. Tide was sluicing out so the fetch got pretty free and I went for it, Phil still thinking he had the race, moved in and trapped of the gunwhale, we bore away around the windward mark with Phil now 5 boat lengths ahead. He was getting nervous, he hoisted the kite and one pull from the top he got nailed. As he rolled in I sailed by with the kite still in the sock. I was half out on the wire sailing downwind with just the main up, so played it safe and left the kite in the sock, rounded the bottom mark and flew upwind to the finish. Amazingly took 1st in both races on corrected time.

Why is it that when I dont make any stupid mistakes like getting stuck in irons on the start line or running aground I dont sail as well?



Edited by craiggo