Saturday, 17 October 2024

As I Saw It (and remembered it!)

This week 5 Etchells hit the water with a number of replacement skippers on board. With Patto out injured Al Cowen stepped in to take the helm of Waterloo Too while Tomoko Nakanishi from the Southport fleet filled in on The Saint and on The Project Chris moved aft in Gary’s absence.

The forecasts were a bit varied in predicted wind strength with most of us hoping for the lower end of the 15-20kts. Unfortunately, we got the higher end.

Race 1 saw the fleet wanting the pin end. Rapscallion were the winners in this regard while The Saint and Waterloo Too fought for next best resulting in a windward leeward protest by The Saint – more on this later.

The top 3 of Rapscallion, Waterloo Too and The Saint battled it out on the left hand side of the course with Rapscallion holding their lead off the line to sneak in on port at the top mark just a length ahead of Waterloo Too with The Saint right on their transom. Athena was next around after The Project got shut out at the top by some VXs and had to gybe out to circle in behind them.

The run was in gusty conditions with puffs exceeding 20kts. Rapscallion extended on the run while Waterloo Too and The Saint took alternative marks with W2 getting the preferred right mark. Rapscallion was covering the fleet when ½ way up the beat their mainsheet block parted company with the traveller car. This saw Waterloo Too lead around clearly ahead of The Saint. Next round was Athena with The Project ½ a dozen lengths behind. By this stage Rapscallion had jury rigged their main sheet/traveller car and set of in pursuit of the fleet, and though Athena and The Project didn’t fly their kites on the final run Rapscallion couldn’t run them down. W2 held their lead to comfortably take the gun from The Saint.

Race 2 saw a further increase in the pressure. Rapscallion again won the pin but their lack of ability to control the traveller meant they struggled to hold their height and The Saint had a comfortable lead over Waterloo Too at the top. Rapscallion rounded 3^rd but a tight layline and some large waves as they reached the mark stopped the boat and the tide pushed them onto the mark. By the time they cleared their penalty The Project as right on their tail. Rapscallion hoisted their kite though on The Project with Gary away and only one kite remaining in the inventory discretion meant they played it safe and ran without it, not that they were a lot slower. Athena withdrew from the race shortly after the start.

Meanwhile on W2 the spinnaker halyard became unclipped from the kite during the hoist. By the time this issue was resolved Rapscallion had sailed through to second place. With large separation between the boats by this stage and with limited passing opportunities on the next beat and subsequent run The Saint sailed to a comfortable win from Rapscallion and Waterloo Too.

Back on land The Saint lodged a protest against Waterloo Too for the start incident in race 1. Arbitration suggested that W2 was in the wrong and that they should withdraw as they were likely to loose a formal protest hearing. This was before it was bought to The Saint’s attention that their fill in skipper wasn’t a financial member of the club which forced their withdrawal from the days raced meaning the protest became a moot point. This was a disappointing result for them considering how well they had sailed all day.

Being a squadron championship, the day rounded out with a BBQ at the hard stand. Thanks to Marty for his fine chefing skills.

See you all next week.

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