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The
course is set; we are at the start line, and trying to work out where
the other 707’s are. “Is that one I can see, oh no,
it’s another J80”.
As the start count down sequence commenced, it turns out Lutine Belle was the only 707 on the water.
Well if people are going to miss out on the points, we will happily have them.
With our experienced 707 helm, Peter Young steering, the crew consisted
of me in the pit, Katrina working the bow and Amanda trimming.
With very light airs for the first race, we played with the jib, only
trimming very fractionally, and converted light wind speed into good
knots.
Spinnaker hoists went very smoothly, also the gybes and drops. We were sailing very well, even with our lack of competition.
Coming first in a race is a great feeling, even though it was with ourselves.
For the second race the slight breeze was decreasing, however we made a
better start, managed all marks, with out problem in the light airs,
then disaster struck. Only meters from the finish line the wind died
completely. As we started to drift away from the finish line, in the
tide which was building, we decided to kedge; Peter went down below and
bought up the small anchor. By now we had drifted a good 100 meters
away from our final destination, there we sat, with no breeze on the
Solent as far as the eye could see.
This lasted a while, so the few provisions on board were quickly
consumed, and then the spinnaker was decided as a last resort, this
didn’t last long as a slight air built from a southerly
direction, which gave us about 1.5 knots of speed.
As we headed to the line, we noticed the committee boat weighing anchor; surely we have not run out of time?
The committee boat was heading towards us, and the finish gun was fired as they passed.
This was a great start to the series as there are 10 races left and we
are heading the leader board by 12 clear points on the other boats.
Andrew Jameson
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