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Sunday 11th
looked promising for those of us on Censored who had decided to venture to
Warsash for racing in the Garmin winter series – with the wind in the region of
15 – 20 knots but fluctuating constantly from the west, veering to the North west by the
afternoon.
On the
journey out to the start line we practiced our spinnaker gybes which were
becoming better with each! So we headed
to the start and with a huge chop (which at one point saw our bowman looking like
he was swimming under the jib!) we set off.
With a fairly reasonable start, we were in a strong position at the
first gybe mark. After a smart rounding,
we lifted the pole then began the hoist – to the call of ‘the pole…’ but it was
too late – the topping lift had popped out of the jammer and the pole was in
the water – we were trucking along at a fair rate, and by the time we had
recovered the pole it was bent at right angles….not good. Then, by the time we’d recovered the wet
spinnaker, we were half way down the course.
The cry then was to hoist it and sail it without a pole. Somewhat foolhardy, but we did it and managed
to finish the race in 5th position.
The second
race was slightly better with a 4th position, and a tricky race as
the chop did not subside at all and we were getting wetter and colder by the
minute. Couple that with the short
bursts of frenetic energy that were expelled when hoisting and flying the
spinnaker, and we were just about done in as we crossed the line. There was an overwhelming feeling of ‘thank
goodness – we can head home and get dry now’, when we realised that there was
another race. So we headed back up to
the start line and ate our sandwiches…..when one of the boxes fell in the water
we decided to do a man overboard practice on it – which very nearly became
reality when I over-leant to pick it up out of the water and thought I was
going in!
We were
very tired and cold by this point – it’s amazing how much your body shuts down
when you think you’ve finished racing, and how hard it is to revive the
motivation, energy and enthusiasm back up again. After a fairly uneventful race, we finished our
third race, in 8th position.
This was still enough for us to maintain our second overall spot.
Fortunately
we had a spare pole in the sail locker, so that meant one less job to do for
the following week!
Racing on
the 18th was abandoned as there was too much wind, and was due to
shift by about 50 degrees. Phone calls
at 6am meant that we didn’t
even get out of bed – and made the right call!
It was a thoroughly unpleasantly cold, wet, miserable day.
Sunday the
25th looked like we were going to be lucky again – although dark
when we all left home (well – those of us that could be bothered to get there
on time!), the sun was out and there were blue skies by the time we arrived at
Warsash. After saying hi to the Lutine
Belle crew, we set about kitting up the boat.
The wind
was at about 310 degrees all day and at 10-12 knots, some great sailing
conditions (although we could have done with a little more wind as we seem to
sail much better when it’s windy).
There were
3 races again, and great that there were no further mishaps this week – except
Toby leaving the radio in the car, realising that we should have been wearing
lifejackets about 2 minutes before the start gun – not the best way to start a
race.
Sailing
went very well and fairly slick this week – and we were prepared for the 3
races (thanks to Steve who bought enough food to feed an army!) Better results this week, 5th 4th
and 2nd. So we’re still in
second position overall. We need to make
sure that we stay ahead of ‘A Grand Day Out’ next week to hold that spot – but
there is no catching ‘Sparkle’ who are well in the lead (25 points ahead of us)
The final 3
races of the Garmin Winter series were not looking like it was likely to happen
– from Wednesday, forecasts were showing a steady 30 mph winds with gusts of up
to 7mph more. By Saturday night, the
Race Officers decided to cancel all racing, which was just as well considering
the adverse weather that occurred.
So, in all,
we only managed to get 10 out of the 16 races in – not for want of trying
though! We managed to hang onto our
second place and would appear to have won a prize (although we don’t know what
it is yet).
There’s
talk of the Frostbite series next – before the Spring series………oh dear!!!
Liz Lotz
LLYC
Secretary & Censored Crew
5th December 2007
Garmin results
- http://www.garminhamblewinterseries.co.uk/HWSResults.php
BBC Report Storms - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7123479.stm
Garmin write
up - http://www.sail-world.com/UK/index.cfm?rid=3&DfPage=g
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