Who was out this weekend?.....

The Medway was light with an Easterly which meant a shortened course for our South Kent Race .  We only got two thirds of the way and were sent back.

My son Matt crewed and we arrived late at the committee boat start but crossed it on port whilst most of the rest rafted up on the line.  The conditions suited the RS400 and being a beat we thought it should suit the International Canoe but we managed to cross ahead of him a few tacks further on.

Our boat is fast upwind as long as we get the settings right and we were late because I'd "wasted time" fiddling with the rig ashore.  However it all paid dividends as we kept the 800s behind us and the 400 and Canoe didn't get away whilst our usual rivals, a couple of Ospreys, another 4000 and a 59er fell further behind.

A very new Osprey and the Canoe and 400 did get to the new windward mark in front after about a 2 hour beat.  The 800s caught us after about 20 minutes downwind and we drew level but to windward of the leaders.  Eventually after about another 30 minutes we caught the Osprey and to our surprise the big green kite of the 59er was still a long way back. 

This was very delicate sailing and we lost concentration, the Osprey and the 800s got away as we noticed the other 4000 was getting close.  We had been trying to sail so fast that we had failed to notice more wind on the other side of the river!  Just before the finish the other 4000 got through us and after the handicaps had been worked out we found ourselves in 10th out of 30 odd boats.  The 800s were almost last but there were National 12s and Wayfarers at the top of the list.

Well done Graeme.

Conditions at Yorkshire Dales were simply superb. Started in the morning sun with a race in a F3 westerley - so down the lake, but some decent shifts to catch out the corner bangers.

By the afternoon race the wind had cranked up and whitecaps everywhere in the strong sunshine. Awesome offwind legs, with the trapeze boats doing best, but a couple of decent RS200s and a Phantom sailing well.

The last race was run in 'Champagne' conditions! Hot sunny, F5 and beautiful surroundings. Main was ragging / inverting a bit upwind (to busy sunbathing so hadn't bothered to rake back) but great blasting. The offwind legs were ballistic with some decent chop developing, and a kite tangle apart, just perfect sailing.

Lounging on the deck  / verandah afterwards while watching windsurfers doing loops and drinking a cool cider (Us not the windsurfers) was just a great end to the day. Didnt want to go home!

Windy Medway for our 1st time out.  We sailed cautiously as it must have been in the upper force 5 when we got down the river.  The tops of the white horses where blowing off into spum.

We got the windward work sorted and only had a 800 and a 29er in front.  We encouraged our 4000 rival to go the wrong side of the river and duped the 59er into going the wrong way around the windward mark.  Unfortunately we dropped it in at the last mark on the way back and the other 4000 got through.  That rather ruined our handicap place too and we came 7th out of 10. 

For the afternoon it seemed it would be even worse downriver as the wind would now be against the tide, so we went home early.