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Sunday 30 September 2012

autumn 5 sunday 30th september

we launched knowing it was going to be a blow, we pratised our gybes and tacks and felt it was going to be a struggle, Lauren went out on the wire and struggled to keep her footing as the waves hit. after a few more reaches she decided it was too much for her and we just reached and hiked out instead.
it was all good pratice and good for building confidence, we had moved closer to shore where the sea was calmer. if we had of raced it would have been pure survival.
there is always next week !! sailing time 30-40 mins

Saturday 22 September 2012

Bournmouth race 22nd September 2012

after the prev few sails of not doing very well i decided to do changes to the boat the first being slacken off the battens then the mast forestay and see how it goes. when i arrived at swanage bright and early i was greeted with a nice fresh easterly. i got the boat ready and altered the battens to loose.
tightened the toestraps. i wasn't looking forward to this race at all as the wind was supposed to be 14 knts + on an easterly, out of the bay i was expecting some chop.
John Russ agreed to crew for his annual sail to Bournemouth, we launched with about 15 mins to go and had everything on board, radio , gps and phone just incase.
a quick test on the wire and john was happy. we got to the line no propbelm but were burried with lots of other boats. mark Dooley and mike cemm made good starts and we were just behind them.
we had to keep tacking out on port to clear the cliffs of ballard and better wind was found on this tack, we found ourselves eventually toward old harry in 5th spot and after rounding Poole bar buoy we were in 4th spot overhauled mike cemm and also pulled away from richard. at one time we were 150 yds or so behind perham and MD the canoe was going realy well. with occasionally bursts of speed we found ourselves close to Bournemouth and spotted our yellow bouy, we round 3rd cat 4th overall and nothing in sight behind us. however i round the boat to fast and we didn't make the tack drifted and hit the mark, i sailed off and tried to do a 360 but this failed and then said ok lets round the mark then do the 360 later. we did that and got overtaken by Steve little john. we soon passed him again and it wasn't until before the bar buoy he overtook us. Richard was fast catching and stray cat
over old harry the race was building and we hit a few lumps good and proper, it was all good fun as we were motivated that we were doing well. we came out the other side ok only to find Richard snapping at our stern, we pulled away and by the time we got into the bay he was back and about to overtake, the wind picked up and we started burying the bow in the gusts and fighting every ounce of speed out of the boat  we didn't want to be overtaken !! we headed straight for the old pier where the line was, we didn't know what to look for and Richard slid behind us at great speed , had we finished ??, we got in and i asked john to go find out, we had finished correctly however Richard had just pipped us.
all in all the best race i had done on a dart 18 i beat Greg as well who has been sailing far better than me all year. this race had been dragged out of the bag somehow and if it wasn't for the mistake we would have been 3rd car home and not 5th
well done john for your tactics once again. i did try to film it but the head cam kept switching off, hopefully the track will come out when the gps decides it wants too !!
finish time 2h 3m , faster  two prev trips on mutley192, fastest trip on a dart18 2nd fastest trip overall. fastest trip 1h48m on mutley192    

Sunday 16 September 2012

Autumn 3 16th September 2012

Wind was predicted to be 12-15knts, when i arrived it was fairly calm. after not sailing for 4 weeks i was eager to get out and have a blast. Lauren hadnt trapezed before so i had to show her how to do that on land first, then we launched at about 1020am, we reached up and down and Lauren went out on the wire no problem at all, the wind was steady and we made good progress.
at 10.50  no safety boats were out and the race had been delayed for some reason, eventually the postponement came down and we were under way, the wind had picked up and the sea had  got choppier. we found mike cemm at the pin and and we made a dash to join him, it was a bit rushed for me, at 15 secs i tacked an fluffed it, so we had a late start, the wind didnt produce that much speed and that was the story of the day really, couldn't get the boat going.
Lauren did fantastic on the wire, a few mistakes on the jib down wind but nothing that would cause great delay. lack of pratice i think was key. the boat may have to be tweaked a little to get some speed. but overall as a new team i can t complain at all. Lauren is keen and that's all what matters.
after we finished the race she went on the wire all the way back to the old pier, i did joke about going up the beach as well but she said not a good idea  lol
i did try to film it on the helmet cam but it kept turning itself off, Lauren will be glad !!

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