Who was out last night?

Originally posted by alstorer

   Thought I'd start a new thread for weekday evening sailing - better late than 

never and for once I have reason to celebrate, so....

After getting down the club reasonably early (5.15) I managed to hastily Dr 

Ding the damage I'd done to the nose after Sundays aborted fiasco and 

checking the 17 mph forcast had been relegated to a dwindling 8 knots 

decided to bung up the big mast and sail.

A standard three buoy triangle sausage in the SSW wind at high tide meant a 

bit of right to left tide, so even though starting on starboard had a narrow 

angle to get over the line with the tide on the weather bow, it had to be done 

if only to bugger up Dumb and Dumberer who have taken of late to port hand 

flyering us. The Cheeky pair have gotten semi decent, gone are the days of 

them lurking twenty yards below the line and tumbling in just as the gun 

goes. 

They've been campaigning a bent 'breathed on' laser 3000 and rumour has it 

they're leading the thursday evening series, so they had to be marked men.

This season, this new boat and switching between it and the Alto has reduced 

me to muppetville, I haven't had one good start all year so tonight I played 

safe, banged over on Starboard and got it about right closing the door on 

them and taking them out to sea with me.

I was actually doing them a favour, which I hastily pointed out to them before 

they did something stupid like try to head up or tack or whatever.

At our place with the buildings near the prom, in any kind of more southerly 

wind it lifts creating a bit of a wind line further our, it wasn't that visible yet 

but I knew it would be there, as the rest of the fleet went along the coast to 

avoid the tide. The plan was get our far enough to get a) get into the puffier 

wind and b) get a lee bow angle. As it happened it wasn't that successful but 

we didn't lose anything.

It's difficult to explain our tide in words on a post, but it's a bit of a curve, 

and depending on where the mark is and what the winds doing, you can end 

up gaining at the start of the beat, but lose massively as you get near the 

mark and the angle changes say from the heading effect of the curve and the 

tide falls over to your weather bow, as happened to the five oh boys later, 

who at this moment rounded first.

D&D turned out faster upwind and they rounded 2nd and the absolute b'stard 

who bought my old Blaze and is proceeding to demonstrate what a total 

muppet I am by bloody sailing all over me in it, rounded ahead of me and it 

was a tight fetch to the next mark so no kite.

After the procession we gybed D&D made their first big mistake and just bore 

off, heading downwind, but down tide when the correct thing to do was gybe 

sail cross tide and let it take you lower whilst being able to follow a hotter 

angle.. I got back to 2nd.

The five oh rounded the bottom mark and wether they had a knock or just 

didn't sail high enough or we got a lift as we came round, but the net effect 

we one tacked the beat, with the wind coming round and the lee bow it had 

become a fetch, with them hung out to dry on the far wing, what a warm 

feeling that brings, got back to within spitting distance of them.

All to brief, they bunged up the monster kite and I fumbled the hoist, they 

pulled away, I just about maintained position on everyone else, but held D&D 

where they were. Enough in fact to give them a favorable glimpse of my bare 

naked buttocks up the penultimate beat.. Tricky manouvre that, drop, gybe, 

drop shorts.. But it had to be done, held them off and finished 2nd over the 

water..

A good night.

The tracks