Medway Yacht Club 'Pirates Cave' 2017 Autumn Series Race 3
by Aaron Goodman-Simpson 14 Nov 2017 07:01 GMT
12 November 2017
Race 3 of the "Pirates Cave" sponsored MYC Cruiser Autumn Series was held on Remembrance Sunday, which delivered bright skies and a NW / NNW building breeze, ranging from a low base of 17 knots and gusting to 27+ knots.
With the forecast for more wind later in the afternoon, PRO Mike Wallis was keen to keep Class 1 and 2 in the same stretch of water. So a common course was chosen for both classes, but with Class 1 having to do the course twice.
From a committee boat start at buoy 26, a windward leg against the Ebb tide took the fleets back up to buoy 30. The Medway boats are proving very game for "nip and tuck", with some aggressive calls of "starbooooard" being heard; which is an indication that owners and crew are taking the racing more seriously as each race passes.
At the windward mark a few boats misjudged the tide, touching the mark and forcing the necessary penalty turns. Reefer x (X99) was guilty of such an offence along with others; strange is it not that the crew decline to take collective responsibility for such an error and blame the helm solely for such an indiscretion! If only they completed their tacks faster etc...
The short crewed Full Tilt (Arcona 400) led the fleet around the course, which took both classes down river with the ebbing tide to 15, West Bullock and 16, before back up river via 18, MYC4 and MYA1 to the finish or round 2 of the course for Class 1 boats. All boats trying to get out of the tide as best they could.
It was noticeable that Flying Fish (First 40.7) is getting faster and faster as its crew get to know the boat, so perhaps by Race 5 we will have a different path finder boat to lead the fleet around the course. Full Tilt will be looking over their shoulder if this occurs.
Back in the main fleet we saw bursts of classic J80 fast reaching and lots of spray from Jemini (J80) and some classic "Finn Style" upwind sailing from Hellaby as the wind began to increase. Best to drop the jib and keep the light weight 1/4 tonner on it's feet it seemed. Even under main alone, she was not slow on the beat.
With race three of five now complete, there are some consistent performers to note in the results and some boats who will be looking to discard today's result from the series score.
Next week's results will see who is best placed to get their hands on the "Pirates Cave" prize vouchers from the event sponsor.
Full results can be found on the Sailwave website.