As I Saw (and remembered) It

By Kevin Molen

The day dawned bright and sunny with a 15kt northerly forecast. Helen was away so she handed over the keys of Athena to Dave Smith. The St Helena crowd were back but with The Saint down on crew and Knot Easy out for the week we were down to just 6 boats.

Aspen spent the morning pulling out the rig in order to put in a new wind indicator replacing the one that escaped last weekend. They were rushing to get launched in time as the rest of us were leaving the dock, only for the main halyard to break at the halyard lock swage – bugger!!

That meant we only had 5 on the course. Race 1 saw Waterloo Too and NGHAM head middle right up the first beat while Rapscallion, Athena and The Project went left. At the top it was W2 first round with NGHAM a length back while just behind them were Rapscallion, Athena and The Project.

W2 had a couple of issues early in the run including discovering a breakage from the previous week that missed getting repaired. It didn’t take long for both NGHAM and Rapscallion to pass them. At the bottom, the two leaders rounded alternate marks at the same time with Brad heading back out to the right while the Rappers went left. Patto also elected to go right and by the top NGHAM had extended by 4-5 lengths. W2 managed to get back into second and rounded 2 lengths ahead of Rapscallion.

There was no catching NGHAM on the run while W2 managed to hold off Rapscallion to grab 2^nd by 2 lengths. Athena grabbed 4^th ahead of The Project.

Race 2 saw a 20 degree left shift just before the start gun. Rapscallion at the boat headed right off the line while the rest of the fleet went hard left. It was looking good for the Rappers until it wasn’t!! Towards the top it was Athena and The Project who had gone furthest left who were looking the best. By the top, it was Athena first around with NGHAM on their transom with W2 just a length back. Rapscallion crossed behind the fleet and with a final dig out to the left managed to tack in front of The Project just before the mark to round 4^th. Some gentle conversation was had post racing discussing if Rapscallion’s tack was completed clear ahead.

On the run W2 gybed off early only to find that wasn’t the way and were soon out the back. Both NGHAM and Rapscallion rolled Athena down this leg and at the bottom again NGHAM and Rapscallion took alternate marks with Brad going right and Dave going middle left. The Project and Athena followed a similar course to Rapscallion.

Brad kept a loose cover on the Rappers not allowing them any opportunity to get past.  Patto and co who went hard left off the bottom narrowly crossed Rapscallion on port 100m before the top with a yell of protest from the Rappers as they put their bow down to avoid the back of W2. If only there was some overhead drone footage to resolve these interesting debates!  The Rappers decided to keep going a bit further left and got some of what W2 had and tacked inside of them to round 2^nd at the top for the final run home.

Rapscallion closed on NGHAM but ran out of runway giving Brad and crew their second bullet of the day ☹. W2 held on for 3^rd ahead of Athena and The Project.

It was close racing all day and with the unstable breeze you could never feel comfortable.

With storm clouds in the distance, it was a rush to get back and packed up before it came though. We managed to have time for the usual beer and bites at the hardstand before everyone took off in order to avoid the worst of it. Fortunately, it had dissipated to a large degree by the time it reached the club.

(This author accepts no responsibilities for any inaccuracies, distortions of the truth or outright lies.)