Combined Clubs Race August

 Sally and Martin
(Note Martin is on the helm here! How did that happen? I will have to buy a new tube of araldite!)

 Martin

 Jacq

Kate and Jacq "Love those bandannas!"

We had a great race last Sunday. The crew were Martin, Sally, Jacq, Kate and Chris who took the photos. The wind started at around 15 knots from the NE and built to about 20 to 25 knots direction varied. By the end of the race the wind was swinging westerly. We began the race without knowing what the day's course was and were unsure until we were quite close to Mud Island. The course turned out to be start to Locker light to Hope Banks around Mud Island back out to Hope Banks to the Locker Light and the finish. We had a very good start and kept going on one long tack out past hope Banks the first leg before tacking out to Mud and this seemed to be a good move. We popped the kite at the NW of Mud and held it out to Hope Banks where we had our first ever broach in Lion Rampant. This occured becuase of a number of things going slightly askew at the same time. We were about to drop the kite and were trying to hoist the genoa but it got caught on a knob on the cartridge (which it has never done before) and the cartridge came off the forestay. We had two crew to leeward ready to pull the kite in under the boom so there was not enough weight in the rail. Once the boat went into the broach I could do nothing with the helm and I had no option other than to dump the kite sheet until the trouble on the foredeck was sorted. It all worked out in the end but we did lose a bit of time. But hey it was fun and an adventure and that is what it is all about!!