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As I saw (and remembered) it – Saturday 13th December
By Kevin Molen
What a way to close out the end of the year – 9 boats on the water. We welcomed Ray Wilson in Boat X (formally Bait and Switch) into the fleet this week. Apparently, it’s over 30 years since he last raced Etchells! It’s just like riding a bike Ray. Ray was joined by his son Arko and longtime Etchells stalwart – Deano. The Project started their holidays early so they missed out on another great day of racing.
Patto was out of town this week so he handed the keys of Waterloo Too to Vice Commodore Todd. With Jim away Jason’s bother Simon filled in on Knot Easy.
The weather was an idyllic 10-12 knot nor-easter with an incoming tide. It turned out to be very shifty with some pressure lines which made for a challenging day. With such close racing and positional changes, it was hard to recall who was where and when so it’s a lighter report this week and apologies for the probable errors in fleet positions. It doesn’t help that Happy Hour doesn’t appear to be registered for the season so doesn’t show up in the results!!
Just before the start of race 1 in a replay of last week, the top mark was moved to the right. The fleet were soon spread across the course, but all converged at the top together with the fleet basically all rounding line astern. W2 was first around followed by NGHAM, The Saint, Aspen, Happy Hour, Rapscallion, Knot Easy, Boat X and Athena.
On the run The Saint and Aspen slowed each other down initially allowing Happy Hour to sneak past. W2 held off NGHAM to lead around the bottom followed by Happy Hour, Rapscallion, Knot Easy and Boat X.
At the top W2 had held off NGHAM while Rapscallion had managed to get through Happy Hour to be 3rd with Boat X rounding 5th.
By the finish Brad and crew on NGHAM had managed to squeeze past W2 on the final gybe into the line to take the days first bullet by just 3 seconds. ½ a dozen lengths back was Rapscallion who held out Happy Hour. Holding onto a respectable 5th considering it’s their first race in the boat was Boat X ahead of Knot Easy, The Saint, Aspen and Athena.
Race 2 was just as close. The breeze had swung back to the left slightly prior to the start. Rapscallion set up on the pin and headed left while at the boat end NGHAM went right. By the time they flipped over onto std for the last time they looked to have a comfortable lead, only to see the Rappers coming in from the left looking better by the minute. W2 also did well coming in just behind NGHAM on the stb lay. Rapscallion lead round the top by a length from NGHAM with W2 right on their transom. Just behind them was The Saint and Happy Hour.
The run saw Rapscallion and W2 take the left had side of the run while NGHAM, The Saint and Happy Hour went right.
At the bottom Rapscallion rounded the left gate with W2 right on their transom. They left the door open and W2 turned up inside pinning them to leeward. At the other gate NGHAM rounded simultaneously with a few lengths back to The Saint and Happy Hour.
This last beat proved to be the ultimate in snakes and ladders. While the two leaders headed right on an average heading, those on the left were in a 20 degree r/h lift followed by a nice l/h one. Only once both W2 and Rapscallion tacked onto starboard mid beat did the damage become apparent. By the top NGHAM had a 2-3 length lead over The Saint. Happy Hour charging in from the left looked to tack in front of W2 as they entered the 3 boat circle but misjudged the size of the gap and forced Todd to bear away to miss them. Unfortunately, this took them below the lay and they had to gybe around to get back up to the mark, rounding just ahead of Rapscallion who having gone further right had dropped from 1st to 5th at this point.
Happy Hour then proceeded to cause a bit more mayhem as they completed their 720 between the top mark and offset buoy. The run saw NGHAM hold off The Saint for their second gun of the day. Rapscallion battled W2 all the way down the final run but couldn’t get the inside for the final gybe and crossed 4th a length behind W2. Knot Easy crossed in 5th a length ahead of Boat X who finished just 1 second ahead of Aspen who held of Athena by just 3 seconds. Happy Hour didn’t recover from their top mark episode and bought up the rear.
Though challenging tactically, it was great close boat on boat racing and you were never sure how it was going to turn out.
Boat of the day: NGHAM
The day wrapped up with the clubs traditional Splice the Mainbrace.
(This author accepts no responsibilities for any inaccuracies, distortions of the truth or outright lies.)
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