Who was out this weekend?.....

that would be me, yeah fairly local might bring my i14 across for a play sometime but more space to play.

Went sailing for a good few hours at Datchet on Saturday.
Forecast was good and I could take the day off work so we
took the 3K out. Pretty breezy but wasn't too bad for us
two in a 3000 (150kg all up!). Peak gust was a bit over
34 knots before we launched and averaging was 23 or
something. I didn't look after we came in.

Our 3000 is on the verge of literally snapping in half.
It's very floppy. It bends on the trolley, it bends when
we put rig "tension". The rig was jumping about all over
the place when we were sailing it. We could feel the boat
flexing when we started getting some air at the downwind
end of the lake. It made a lot of worrying creeks and
cracking noises a few times.

The less said about the sails the better.

We've seriously abused this boat in the last couple of
years, only taking it out when it's too windy for
anything else. It really pays testament to how badly
Laser can build a boat. All I could think about how much
I wanted to be sailing Flat Stanley instead!

We clocked 18.4 with a 17.9 10 second average. Then the
GPS went a bit mental stopped showing us numbers. Had a
couple of kite runs that felt faster. A year that boat
would have gone faster but it's just mashed up! Even
through all it's faults and downfalls, it's still pushes
some of the right buttons when we sail it, can't bash
Laser completely.

I would love a go in a V3000. A properly made hull. Nice
and stiff with 30 kilos less weight. A nicer looking rig
(not really eyed it up in person) and a roomier cockpit.
We would have easily clocked over 20 Knots in a V3K I
think. Any V3000 sailors need a crew when the breeze is
on give me a shout!

I feel bruised where I'd rather not be bruised. Think I'm taking the train to work rather than cycling to today.

Medway this Sunday.  Great sailing with plenty of wind.  Our performance was not able to shine this weekend due to a new crew and a couple of capsises.  My son crewed and he's really good but we were not in tune.  The forecast was for sunny intervals but it was mostly dull grey and drizzle at times.

 

Race 1, a downwind start that put all but one boat in dirty air left us near the back of the pack when we sailed straight into a mud bank with the kite up.  Capsise inevitable and rather a long time to get it back up and going.  However we caught the Ospreys and 2 or 3 3000s near the leeward mark and then sailed over and away so that by the finish we were closer to the leaders than we were to the tail enders.  The wind got up to the bottom of F5 on the way back and we were overpowered.

Race 2, a better start but some confusion about whether we should go high or go low to avoid a bouy produced another capsise whilst in the lead.  This took a long time to clear as the tide was pushing the boat onto the bouy and made it very difficult to right.  However by halfway downwind we had caught the Ospreys and a few others when we dropped it again.  By the leeward mark we were back in contention and left them all well behind as we gained on the leaders but not enough to get a decent result.  Just near the end the wind dropped so that my tweaks at lunchtime left us rather underpowered in the top end of F3.  The weather cleared and the sun began to shine.

I had my Start Racers on Saturday morning and my Level Ones in the afternoon (let's hope I never get them mixed up).  Both groups are really fun and interesting to work with and we all had a great time on the water.  Excellent weather helped.

No sailing for me on Sundays until after an exam this Wednesday.  Then the contender gets to show just how little 'time in the boat' I have spent this year and I go and embarrass myself at the Inlands....