Who was out this weekend?.....

I lost out to one of the guys I normally have a good battle with in Standard fleet by less than 5 seconds on handicap (mainly because he caught a stonking gust towards the end of the last lap and made up 20 seconds or so on me).

The 8.1 is advantaged over the standard rig in all conditions up to the point that the standard boat is fully powered upwind and offwind. When you get that far there is little to choose between them (unless you get a long run where the 8.1 can plane and the standard boat cannot).

Just out of interest what kind of course do you feel favours an 8.1? I have just bought one and havent used it yet so am trying to suck up as much knowledge as possible about the rig.

Thanks

Rutland for the B14 open. Saturday, despite the conditions being a a lot of fun (especially down wind), had to limp off during race 1- literally. Busted ankle that I thought was better, wasn't. So, ashore and off to boots (other high street pharmacies are available) for painkillers and support bandages. back to the club to watch Wales wallop Italy and Scotland upset the Irish - the latter cheered me up rather.

Sunday, after a fairly civilised evening but followed by fitful sleep (room mate/.helm snored. Loudly. Combined with pain- bad) the lake wasn't looking good. Suddenly though, after about an hour's delay, the wind kicked in nicely.

1st race of the day (race 5) we weren't doing too well (dfl round mark 1) but at the final windward mark the back four boats (including us) suddenly compressed. Only came out of the resultant pack shuffling 2nd last, but it was good close racing down the final run.

Final race, bit of a rubbish start. Tacked off for clear air. Going right had been unpredictable- sometimes paying off well, soetimes being rather slow. Going left was predictable but in between. We found a nice groove, and settled in going high and fast. Approaching the top of the course, we noticed one or two of the top of the fleet were close to us, even behind- they must have been haviing poor races.

Except

There were only two boats ahead.

Unfortunately we did what we tend to do when we're doing well, and chucked it away somewhat- though we could perhaps have come one or two places higher at the end had we noticed the shortened course signal earlier. With a large crowd at the port gate mark, we were headed for a clear rounding at the starboard end- unfortunately this put us further from the finish line when we noticed we needed to gybe for the line instead, and the extra speed from the tighter angle was cancled by the blanket of boats sailing over us.

it was still good fun, we were pretty close to the top boats, and it was a reminder of our potential- that we keep wasting.