Having a few more TYs to sail with makes for a more exciting race day, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed Saturdays Lord Mayor’s Cup Race. PKSC contributed 5 TYs to the 18-total registered for race one, Rosstered Off, Momentum, Serenity, Whitewash and Frou Frou. Sundays around the lake race was a little less crowded at the start due to Rosstered Off, Momentum and Serenity being unavailable for this race.
It was wonderful see Rod Nairn’s new acquisition, the Ross 780 Whitewash, out on the water both days of sailing for her shake down cruse. As you will agree, no matter how experienced you are it’s quite a daunting task for any crew to get familiar with a new boat (from my experience they all feel slightly different, which requires learning how to get the best performance out of them) and to pit yourself against other similar craft in a race. One advantage of throwing yourself in the deep end is you can learn what works and doesn’t work to make your boat go, and having other similar yachts around you to benchmark against is probably the quickest way I know to get a boat and crew up to speed. Congratulations to Rod and his crew for giving it a go.
You will also probably agree that Saturday was a very good day for a shakedown cruise. The 10 to 15 knots from the north- north east and a decent sized mixed fleet was enough to make life interesting at the start and around the traditional triangular course. Rosstered Off crossed the finish line first thereby upholding the good credentials of PKSC sailors. Most participants agreed that It was a wonderful day on the water.
Sunday could not have been more different with a strong westerly filling in by start time at a constant 20 plus knots with gusts over 30 knots. It does not happen very often but Frou Frou and crew made the sensible decision to set her smallest headsail before the start. Other boats were putting reefs in along the way as the wind strength increased which didn’t look much fun. Good job Frou Frou’s relatively new crew members Jess, Alan and Stephen, didn’t fully understand the consequences of getting a manoeuvre wrong in the strong gusty winds, although they may have twigged when my voice got a little anxious sounding in preparing for a tack or jib.
In my opinion the yachts that finished that around the lake race deserve a medal for being stupid and the ones that retired deserve a medal for being sensible. We did notice that Whitewash was having a rough time in the conditions and was a member of the sensible division by pulling out at a convenient moment. We hope that Rod and crew ended up surviving intact.
Frou Frou’s young and spritely crew (comparatively speaking as age is relative remember, and I am viewing things from a perspective of significant maturity) of Jess, Alan and Stephen performed magnificently on both days to put us 4th overall in the 2-race regatta series.
Results for Saturday’s race Pointscore 8
Position Boat Name Corrected time PBH (CBH)
First Serenity 78.76 (79.5)
Second Frou Frou 79.52 (79.52)
Third Rosstered Off 82.08 (81.21)
Forth Momentum 82.09 (84.1)
Fifth Whitewash 88.96 (88.96)
Next Saturday’s race is Championship 4 so I hope as many of you as possible can make the effort to participate.
The end Trev