The weather was kind to us with the promised rain first thing, staying away. When we arrived and practiced the wind was straight down the lake but gradually during the day it shifted nearly 90 degrees making it quite a challenge for our race officer. He did extremely well setting challenging courses and start lines to test all of us. My thanks to the RO and the race team for taking a day out for our pleasure.
Some of us failed to note some of the mark rounding directions at the start of the day and the beginning of the afternoon but once we had sailed the first race in each period normal service resumed.
I had a reasonable day although pesky Craig Richards proved hard to catch. I am not sure if the corroding bulb on my boat slowed me down but I rarely had any edge. 3 months of the bulb sitting in its protector with a little salt went straight through the paint with bubbling all over the bulb. Time to get the paint spray out.
As for the results, Craig won with 19 points and I tied with Dave Adams of East Kent RSC on 26 points, just beating him on number of race wins. Julia Hancock was 4th and Dave Lindsay 5th.
One of the things about Craig is he is the master of recovery. Whenever he was dead and buried, the magic wand came out and through he came. 2 5ths were his worst result but I guess that is fitting of a Global Champion.
I had one incident in the afternoon on a start line where someone bore off and took me away from the line at the same time as breaking the string that tensions the jib luff. The set up was never quite the same after that. Note to self. Use stronger cord so it can handle impact.
These are tricky boats to sail which require your full concentration but I think sailing them gives me more racing and can only help my IOM sailing which my main the focus for the year. The other thing is they are a true one design test as all the boats are identical even if they are not the prettiest of boats.
One huge benefit of the day - 16000 steps. Worn out.
Here are the results in detail :
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