As I Saw It (and remembered it!)

1 March 25

Todd Anderson and the TAG crew found some time this week to get out on the water give us a fleet of 6. The forecast held true giving us a start in a 17-18 kt Sou-easter with a strong outgoing tide.

Race 1 saw the fleet spread along the line. Waterloo Too were late at the pin and had to tack off to the right to clear their air while the rest of the fleet went left looking for the flat water and less tide.

As the fleet started converging mid beat there was nothing between the boats with a number of close cross situations. As they worked their way out towards the left hand layline and settled in for the final stretch to the top mark Rapscallion managed to get clear ahead with The Saint following dead astern. Up on their hip was W2 with TAG just behind. At the top Rapscallion rounded 2 lengths clear of The Saint with just a length back to W2 who had just a length on TAG. Just a few lengths behind them was The Project and bring up the rear was Athena.

The run saw Rapscallion extend by a couple of lengths on The Saint while just behind them W2 and TAG were having a real battle with W2 holding off TAG to round the bottom with TAG right on their transom.

After rounding, TAG put in a clearing tack out to the right while the leaders went off towards Green once again. With the flat water and less tide outweighing the right hand shifts there weren’t many passing lanes once you reached the corner though TAG managed to get a benefit going right off the bottom initially so that by the time they reached the port layline they were ahead of Waterloo Too. By this stage The Project had locked away Athena.

At the top, Rapscallion had 4-5 lengths on The Saint with similar gaps back to Tag and W2. The breeze picked up on the final run hitting gusts in the low 20’s. Athena decided not to risk themselves or their kite in the increasing breeze so two sailed to the finish. Though there were a number of gybes on this final run the separation between the boats was too great to see any place changes. Rapscallion took a comfortable win by 6 lengths from The Saint with TAG taking the final podium spot.

Between races the breeze settled into a steady 20-25kt. The Project decided the conditions weren’t to their liking so retired while the rest of the fleet tackled the second race. Similar to race one, once everyone settled off the line it was a push out to the left hand corner. Again, there was nothing between the boats and towards the top we saw The Saint with a marginal lead with Rapscallion on their weather hip and to leeward and ahead were TAG and Waterloo Too. The Saint tacked onto the starboard lay 3-4 lengths from the top mark 2 lengths in front of TAG who had W2 right on their transom. Rapscallion had a decision to make – go behind 2 boats or sneak through the gap between The Saint and TAG. They chose the latter option but unfortunately misjudged their tack onto stb and hit The Saint’s transom. This saw them having to clear the fleet and undertake a race killing 720.

As the pressure eased on the run we saw The Saint locked in a tight battle with TAG all the way down to the bottom while Rapscallion set off after Waterloo Too once they had completed their turns. Athena struggling in the heavier air upwind were still behind Rapscallion by the time they had cleared their penalty

At the bottom The Saint protected the right gate while TAG took the left. Back in 3^rd, W2 didn’t have a great rounding and Rapscallion, though still 10 lengths or so behind, came out with good height and speed and slowly lifted off and moved ahead of them as they both headed left. Meanwhile TAG and The Saint came back together on the left with a narrow lead to TAG. To leeward were both Rapscallion and W2. A 20 degree shift to the left 2/3rds of the way up saw the two leaders lock up the top two places with a commanding gap back to Rapscallion. TAG rounded just a couple of lengths in front of The Saint.  Rapscallion covered W2 up the final part of the beat to round in 3^rd by 5-6 lengths.

The run saw the pressure drop right back to around 15kts and a tight battle for the lead. TAG managed to get to the left of The Saint to control the final run into the finish. With TAG to leeward and on starboard and The Saint beside them to weather TAG took them all the way to the finish boat before gybing into port and into the finish. The Saint had to smoke their kite in order clear the start boat and reach into the finish 11 seconds behind TAG and bridesmaid for the second time for the day. Nearly a minute back Rapscallion held off Waterloo Too for 3^rd.

It was a great day of sailing and nice to see TAG adding another dimension in to the days racing. Boat of the day honours were split between TAG, The Saint and Rapscallion.

With only a month of sailing left, this weeks results went a long way towards setting up the final positions for the various season’s trophies.

See you all next week – weather permitting, assuming Alfred has dissipated.

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