It’s been and action packed 24 hours having discovered it’s not only the skipper that is starting to crack under the pressure! When unrigging yesterday I noticed light coming through a crack in the base of the hole the mast steps into. One more crash off a wave and the whole mast base might have pushed through the hull which would have been a disaster! Thankfully local shipwright David Glenn and his team were only too happy to help out immediately and had the mast hole glassed up and reinforced and even a ramming puncture in the transom repaired all by 9am – just 2 hours before the start!
Because racing was cancelled the previous day due to massive shifts, and in the end a lack of wind, they scheduled 3 races for today. The first race being early, meant the wind was light and slow going for this heavy weight. My start went bad when I managed to illegally bump into a boat in front of me. He immediately screamed ‘protest’ forcing me to make the 720 degree penalty turns. I didn’t recovered from the back of the fleet and crossed the line 35th.
Race 2 saw a much cleaner start, and a good first windward beat, rounding the top mark 15th. However, again the light conditions proved my downfall with some of the lighter skippers sliding past on the downhill legs. I finished 20th.
Race 3 and the wind had increased to around 12 and gusting maybe 15 knots and this breeze is where I can sail my boat harder than the light weights. It was an incredibly tight race (as they all are) with at least 10 boats around you and crossing the line with only seconds between us in some cases. I survived a near fatal capsize just before the wing mark and went on to place 18th.
Currently i’m sitting 20th overall with the last 3 races tomorrow morning (Saturday). If the predicted light winds early are accurate, i’m not sure i’ll hang onto that postion.
Full results for my fleet (Radial Master Division) – http://results.rqys.com.au/12-WLM/12-WLM-RADIAL.htm
