Who was out this weekend?.....

 

Training weekend. Down to Weston, where we were supposed to have had a long-distance TT piggybacking on the Solent Slog, until the club decided to cancel the monohulls. So, we had four of the mid-to-back of the B14 fleet together for some practice/tune up. having got up ludicrously early in the morning to get there, got out and had a play with our new sails- main especially is a change from the old one. Few things needing tweaked to get the rig right to go with it, but it felt good, felt more powerful in the light wind without feeling stupid in the nasty gusts.

 

Afternoon had a session of tacking and gybing practice all close togther, which was good for sharpening everyone up and giving each other feedback on what we're doing wrong.

 

BBQ, Lots of drink, sleeping in a lounge without curtains. So, I was a little tired on my birthday...

 

Put the old sails up Sunday, went out for a light wind tacking/gybing practice. before we went out, overheard that Invictus, the C-Class, had lost their rig out on the Slog. Anyway, went out, did some good work, then had a session of swapping boats to compare set ups- pair we swapped with were commeting that, with identical kit, we had a lot more power in our rig set up. Also, the crew was jealous of the kite halyard's smooth running.

 

Got back ashore to find Invictus had been towed back in whilst we weren't looking, all the way from Cowes. Platform seemed to be OK, rig is trashed. Ashen faces.

 

So, good weekend, always good to be out on the water with friends.

First race full on, staying upright was definitely the key. I failed after a particularly well landed gybe I decided to fall in to windward....

The second race was a drifter, all focus on roll tacking effectively and being smooth and sitting still. Managed to beat an Enterprise on handicap despite him being only 20 or so meters away from me on the water.....

Lets see what next weekend brings....