We had more TYs in the parking lot than crew to sail them for today’s race. Frou Frou and Serenity were crewless and looked like they would not get their keels wet.
I had resigned myself to spending a leisurely afternoon on shore, with no rigging, unrigging or clean-ups. Then wouldn’t you know it, Barry Grant suggested that Wayne McKinnon and I sail together. Wayne agreed on sailing aboard Frou Frou, as long as Jim Curry didn’t mind giving up Wayne’s recently agreed to crew position on Rosstered Off. Since it was most likely going to be a light easterly and, let’s face it, Rosstered Off usually has far too many crew, the deal was set. My first reaction was, dam, there goes my relaxing afternoon watching the world go by while sipping a freshly brewed flat white. However once Wayne and I kicked into gear and got the boat rigged, on the water and sailing to the start, that thought had been replaced with another, about how we were going to have a great afternoon afloat (and secretly win the race). I should recognise that there were 4 other TYs lining up for the start. Rosstered Off with Jim Shaun and Richard aboard, Momentum with Barry, Ray, John, Kim and Phil aboard, Offshore Account with Dave, Frank and Richard aboard and Grey Fox with Digger and Rodger aboard. Welcome back Digger from your travels.
I really enjoy race starts, and today was no exception. The duty crew, thanks Paul Leaudais and Peter Ellms, set a good course with a relatively short start line to make things close and more interesting when the hooter went. “Old Saults” told me that usually with an easterly it was best to head left as close as you could to the northern shore on upwind legs in the hope of getting a lift off the shore. And certainly today that’s how things panned out. The boats that took this line benefited and by the end of the work were out in front. Grey Fox was in this group and nearly embarrassed the bigger, faster boats by rounding very closely behind Rosstered Off and Frou Frou, and just ahead of Momentum. Makes me think we should review her handicap?
With the wind varying between about 5 to10 knots and swinging from east to north and back to east, the boats that happened to be in the right positions at the time were able to take advantage of the shifts. At this point Jim must have realised how lucky he was to get rid of the extra crew weight. Frou Frou was very happy to have someone as experienced as Wayne McKinnon aboard to help with tactics and sail changes. He made life easy for me in the steering end.
I could crap on more about changing boat positions the lightening breeze and boats good and bad luck but have got other things to do, apart from saying it was a great afternoon on the water. So let’s go to the final results.
Championship 1
Place, Boat Name, Corrected time minutes CBH (PBH)
First Frou Frou 76.53 (76.53)
Second Rosstered Off 77.79 (73.36)
Third Momentum 84.73 (82.24)
Forty Offshore Account 91.85 (88.15)
Fifth Grey Fox 93.69 (85.14)
Happy Birthday wishes to all those October 6 birthday boys, and see you all in a couple of weeks.
The end - Trev