Sunday 26 September 2010

Marriott Bucket 2010 - day 2

Bit of a poor turnout, truth be told, which was a shame as it was an excellent days sailing. We used the windy weather handicaps which caused some initial upset to some people as it clearly wasn't all that windy at 10:00am. However it definitely was all that windy by 10:45am when we started, so that turned out OK.

Helen and Paul were leading the series at the end of day one, but in the traditional spirit of fair play they did their best to lose the thing on day two. Tactics employed included getting the spinnaker sheet stuck over the end of the boom during a capsize in race 1, followed by further capsizes in races 2 and 3. As on the first day, the OD team were very helpful and set us some very nice courses - the leg from C to T in race 2 standing out in particular as an absolute treat. Graham and Theresa apparently managed to nosedive and capsize on that leg, which is a pretty neat trick and gives you an idea of the shenanigans going on out there.

Anyway, it became apparent that the series hung on the outcome of race 3 (as usual), in that Richard and Kris would take the trophy if they won the last race, and Helen and Paul would win it if they didn't. The latter pair neatly removed themselves from the fray by capsizing, as did Bob and Paul. So in a somewhat depleted field only Dangerous Dave and Mark could throw a spanner in the works, which they duly did by winning the race. The upshot being that Helen and Paul won the series by a single point.

Results are here http://www.draycotewater.co.uk/fleets/fireball/results/2010/MarriottMug.htm

And thanks to Mike Shreeve for doing the start timing and hooter for race 2.

Sunday 5 September 2010

Marriott Bucket 2010 - day 1

Not a bad first day as it turned out. Not as windy as I had hoped it might be, but as a result pretty much perfect for the wobblier boats. Star crew of the day was Gordon's daughter, who was entirely unfazed by the big wobbly boat, the big flappy sail, the prospect of sailing with Gordon etc, but was very vocal when it came to the subject of the spider in the boat. Later heard telling her dad to go faster, she will clearly go far.

The first race was wayyyyy too long, so the early starters were totally wiped out by the time we eventually finished the race. This was a shame as we would have had a good close finish if we'd ended a lap earlier, and not got rained on quite as much either. Ah well. On the positive side there were some great 2-sail and 3-sail reaches which were pretty amusing in the gusts.

The second race involved sunshine and some really punishing close reaches where the choice of 2 sails or 3 was a tricky one to make and could make a lot of difference to your position and your verticality. We all had a some excellent blasts down these (with or without the kite) in the bright sunshine.

Then the wind dropped off for the 3rd race, which was a bit dull really.

I have no idea offhand who came where in any of the races, results are here:

http://www.draycotewater.co.uk/fleets/fireball/results/2010/MarriottMug.htm

Next and final day of the series is in 2 weeks time, it's still all to play for (it always is), be there !