Our first 'proper' event

So we finally entered our first Dinghy event. A local event, not an hours
drive away, the Round Sheppey Island race, with a light SEasterly forcast
and sun the order of the day, we decided that we might be ready enough
to take on what would likely be more competitive sailors and craft than is
the norm at our club. That's not to say our lot are not competitive, but
they are a known quantity, whereas "out there" you never really know
unless you go do it.

With Hindsite, choosing a 40 mile endurance race was possibly a bit of a
harsh choice, but we'd never done it and we had done all the other round
island windsurfing events in our time and noting they were starting the
boards first couldn't help but think if we'd bought our race boards
instead of a dinghy, the chances were we'd be back in the clubhouse
changed and boards racked before the next boat came home. Particularly
since they were not starting the Cats until an hour and a half after the
boards. So we chucked a couple of bottles of water into the bottom of the
Alto having masted it on the hoof as the procession of cars towing
dinghies proceeded along the promenade towards the waiting marshals,
you kind of rig a bit, drive a bit, rig some more and hope you've got it all
done before it's your turn. Then it was a quick inaudible briefing, tally in
the box then rush to launch munching a bacon buttie before the tide
came in and did the job for us.

As the first start got under way, a friend and fellow club mate shot ahead
five board lengths clear in almost as many seconds as we give each other
a wry glance, but then this wasn't about pot hunting, this was about our
boat driving test, wether we could consider ourselves proficient.

A Port end 5-10 degree Port biased committee boat offered the
temptation of a Port flyer, but as the fast handicap fleet began to
assemble and we noted the casual nonchalance of the helms and their
crews as they went about their preparations, we thought better off the
starboard end on starboard and to know our place in the greater scheme
of things, and with a tide standing us off we wanted a backdoor to go hug
the coast, this turned out to be our first mistake, but finding a slot
between what we thought were Merlin Rockets but they may have been
Ospreys, we sheeted in with two seconds to go and creamed a perfect
start.

We'd noticed a 49er, 59er but with a trapeze, 29er B14s RS 800, RS 400,
Iso, Laser Vago, 5000, all in all a regular mix and for a few seconds we
thought we'd fare O.K. But it soon became apparent either something was
wrong or we simply were not on the pace. The RS 800, 59er and even the
29er strated to edge ahead, try as we may, stuffiing it or footing it off a
bit we just couldn't seem to match their windward speed. The 29er crew
we hung onto for a while with a couple of windbend bay shifts, but they
finally threw one long tack out to sea where the wind was filling in and
freshening and horizoned it, leaving us to mix it with Rockets and what
we now think might have been an Osprey for the 9 or 10 mile beat along
the coast in the rapidly becoming chilly and freshening force three to four
wind.

The 800 twinwired off into the distance fairly early on, we got back in
touch a couple of times, but not enough that they'd even notice I wouldn't
imagine, then the first disaster, the red ball that secures the Gnav rope
pinged into the bottom of the boat, so exit kicker. The Rocket (Osprey)
just ahead of us started to march away as the beat became a fetch
parallel to the shore the cold and all measurement of progress with it.
Then the Cats began to appear dealing a definitive lesson in boat speed
as they flew their hulls absolutely loving the perfect wind strength, we
were after all standing still by comparison.

We'd rigged for light airs, it was sunny we were expecting to swelter
especially once we got round the back of the Island, the force 5 forecast
no-one had taken seriously so the cold as the breeze stiffened a tad and
the coast seeming to stretch on forever and in the knaff viz our
enthusiasm began to wain, and we just were not moving anything like the
way we thought we should.

As the Fetch softened we eased the jib it was like flicking a switch the
boat leapt forward, damn how could we be so stupid, we'd obviously
been choking it by having over sheeted it for the light weather we
thought we'd be faced with.

As we gathered speed we slowly began to narrow the distance with our
nearest rival. Then the coast began to fall away and for the first time we
began to think kite. As the great white ballon billowed ahead of us, the
bow lifted spray cream leapt from the gunwhales and we began to get
some payback...

We'd already entered the rear of the slow handicap fleet of weiredness.
Had to foot off behind a starboard tack twin masted canoe thing and as
we gathered momentum 420's laser 2's and 2000's flashed past followed
quickly by the Merlin Osprey thing.

You want fun? This was the moment. The sun out, a force four freshening
to five up your backside, a lovely big spinnaker and ten miles of flat open
water to downwind. We loved every minute never having experienced a
full blown kite reach on such flat water before the perfect reward for that
long slog upwind along the coast. It literally doesn't get any better imho
we flew, wish i had a GPS to see how fast must have been in the 20's

Initially our perfect angle also pretty much lined up with the direction we
needed to take, even though to us that wasn't entirely clear, but as the
Swale narrowed we had to start gybing, occasionally at first but given the
speed we were not about to soak low and apply the wing wang, we
thought we'd save that until later when inevitably we thought, the wind
would be gone, but so far so planing good as one by one slower boats
and Symmetrics fell to our Assym sword.

Pride always comes before a fall, wether we were getting cocky, wether it
was because it was so flat, wether it was fatigue, but sure enough in one
gybe the damn stick thing jammed against the side of the hull at a crucial
moment and with a loud shout of awe & horror in we went, spinnaker still
flying and pigs mess we were, but one thing was revealed. There was a
veritable crop of seaweed around the plate and jammed up inside the slot
flushers, how long it had been there we had no idea, but it would explain
our lack of windward performance and the rudder was also covered. I'd
wondered why the helm was so sluggish, I'd put it down to lee helm and
maybe a bit of fatigue induced disorientation, but no sooner were we up
and running again everything felt so much better at which point we then
ran aground for the first time.

Having a retracting plate has its advantages so nothing untoward in the
odd sandbank, but going upwind later it was to prove a bit of a problem,
but before that we had to negotiate the rail bridge. Now we sort of knew
what to do, but when you're approaching it at a rate of knots with the kite
up, it's going to have to be a pretty damn snappy drop. Steve reckoned
we missed smacking the mast into the iron bridge by 10 inches.

So having capsized her, walked under the bridge, it was off again as the
reach tightened to a fetch then the bend into a beat which was beginning
to get a tad gusty. We banged on as much downhaul as we could muster,
but without any GNAV to hold the boom down when sheeted out, our
main started to flog horribly at the head, it probably to big for us at the
best of times, but in the quite strong wind we now seemed to be
experiencing getting up wind in the shifts and sheers.

One by one some of the boats we'd overhauled began to claim our scalp
as we alternatively ran aground or missed an important bend in the river
then out into the harbour proper with a full force five wind against the
tide. Once the Osprey an RS 400 and a Rocket had piled past us upwind I
began to have misgivings of ever getting round the corner it was getting
a tad hairy and looked much worse at the Harbour Mouth.

But we kept our nerve, bunged the tide on our lee bow and limped the
last couple of miles back and very happy we were to get that final hooter
to come ashore into the welcoming arms of the team of helpers ready
with our launch trolley thanks to a clever system of matching our tally
number to a tag hung round it.

Where we finished I've no idea, that we finished I'm pleased, how badly we
fared just put it down to a combination of over confidence lack of
experience and just bad luck I guess, and altogether too many damn Cats
ripping by, but hey it was a blast even if we did feel like we could sleep
for a week at the end of it and if any of them read this, my personal
thanks and congratulations to the team from IOSSC on a well organised
and slickly run race, even if we didn't spot a rescue boat when we faltered
for a minute, which is just as well. (There were plenty about).

Get some bloody backbone already we've done 40 miles with no kicker, a
reef ecosystem on our plate and rudder, no wetsuits and no previous local
knowledge, all in all we hadn't done that badly, but beaten by an RS 400
how are we going to live that down?

We were depressed and felt they'd handed us our arse, so slunk off, our
pal had won it by a mile on his new Starboard raceboard, but even he let
one Cat by him after an hour and a half head start he'll take some stick for
that, but whatever we'll be back next year and this time we'll know the
drill.

'Yoof' of today........no stamina when it comes to reading !

It was a pretty hardcore choice of event, but must be very satisfying just to have made it round the whole course,

Nigel

There are two chances we'll be doing winter events, slim and none.

Long since did I give up doing anything wet and competitive in air
temperatures sub ten degrees, as it was we froze our butts doing that
race.

All the pre event forecasts had been 10 mph/kts and we'd quite expected
to fry around the back of the Island so we set off Steve in a shorty, me in
a rashy and shorts.

As we were getting slapped around, we made a pact, never do this in the
winter!.

But there are a couple of other Altos out there now with proper crews,
and presumably by now a decent rig.

There will be one down at the Southampton Boat show, and I'll be getting
mine built through the winter now, this first boat threw up quite a few
issues which will be corrected by now I suspect.

At the very least i hope I'll be able to transfer all the mods I've invested in
to the new boat.

I've learned loads more using it, tactically it offers so much choice, it's not
perfect but then I guess nothing is, but there's nothing I've come across
that fits my particular bill so appropriately, I love it.