tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73149792599828038422024-03-12T23:32:38.385+00:00Fireball SailorSome of the fun we've been having in Fireballs over the past few yearsMikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-13428715939596645632017-05-08T20:52:00.003+01:002017-05-08T20:52:56.015+01:00Firebowl 2017<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">This was pretty good, considering there was not much wind for quite a lot of it. I think it helped that it was also the Firebowl personal handicap event, so we had a great turnout (11 boats, oh yes!) and a good reason to get on with it rather than just sit around to see if the weather would improve.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Nevertheless, my morning was rubbish. Having started a mere minute behind Mo & Paul and Pete & Steve and Martyn & Daniel, some twist of fate meant they all did a horizon job and ended up in the top 5, whereas Paul & I bobbed around at the back with no wind and nobody to keep us company. Worse, we kept meeting Eleanor & Richard at the same crossover point every lap, rubbing in the fact that they were half a lap ahead of us and not getting any closer. We eventually overtook only Helen & rookie crew Nathalie, and then only when the latter fell out of the boat for the 2nd time. However, everyone else apparently had a great race, with reports of multiple overtaking manoeuvres and last minute disasters aplenty. Pete & Steve, for example, suffered a particularly interesting kite-won't-come-down episode about 20 yards from the finish line, losing them 3 places. Ellie and Richard won that one, but not by much.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Gordon & Bryan couldn't take the pressure and packed up at lunch time, which was a shame as it only got better from there.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The afternoon was windier, and this time nobody did a horizon job on me although it did take us the entire race to catch anyone. Apart, that is, from Paul & Ian who capsized while trying a port tack approach to the windward mark. Quel surprise, who would have thought that the other 2 adjacent boats might have been approaching on starboard at the same time? Incidentally Paul, the bottom of your boat is filthy, please clean it up if you're going to show it off like that. Anyway, we spent ages looking at Mo's transom, and finally got past only on the very last run from X down to OL. We also got Jane & Pat there, then Ellie & Richard on the next leg, a tiny but exciting 3-sail beam reach across to J, all of us somewhat overpowered. About 20 secs ahead, Pete & Steve had pulled a fast one on both Peter & Ellen and Helen & Nathalie in the bit between J and the gate, winning the race by a whisker. Bob & Paul then came in 4th just ahead of me and the rest of the posse. So the whole lot finished in the space of about a minute, which is pretty impressive for 9 boats over an hour's race, not to mention damn good fun too.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">I'd have done the 3rd race too if I'd realised that 6 other Fireballs would be staying on for it (surely a sign that the end of days is drawing nigh). Anyway, I watched a bit of it, and it was sunny with a decent F3, which facts combined managed to make even the windward-leeward course look like a worthwhile way to spend half an hour.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">At the end of it all, Bob did some number-crunching on the finish times of the third race (which is run as a conventional handicap rather than a pursuit) and it turned out that Peter & Ellie had won the overall event, with Ellie & Richard 2nd, and Pete & Steve taking 3rd on count-back from Mo & Paul. Well done everyone, and I trust y'all enjoyed it as much as I did.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Round 2 is the Marriott Bucket in September. </span></div>
Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-40740071460116648582017-04-10T20:55:00.000+01:002017-05-08T20:56:13.086+01:00Quality!Sometimes, rarely, you get a decent amount of wind on a really warm, sunny day. Sadly it's equally unusual these days to get a big course that allows a Fireball to really stretch itself. But occasionally the stars align and you get both at the same time, and yesterday was one of those days.<br />
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We started off with a southerly wind, trekked over to the start (near D), and were greeted with a course of M, N, C, B, X, E, D. That's a long beat, a broad reach/run, fast reach, beat, fast reach, dead run and a beam reach to finish. The sun shone, the wind varied from F2 to F3, and a great time was had by all. A particularly great time was had by Peter & Paul, who cocked up the start, recovered, and took an early lead which they were never to lose (although we did make them work for it.) Colin & Karen fought it out with Pete & Richard a bit further back, and Mo & Ellen and Jane & Pat were somewhere behind them. The wind went a bit westerly, making the last leg into a fetch, but that was a small thing really, and we finished within about 10 secs of the leaders.<br />
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The wind picked up for the afternoon, and those of us who had launched with 22'8 mast rake were forced to pull many bits of string to compensate. Peter & Paul cocked up the start again (with only a little help from yours truly), and had to re-round, leaving the rest of us to blast off at great speed when the gun went. Well, not quite all of us. Mo & Ellen had capsized a little while previously, and Colin & Karen spotted this, rescued Ellie and put Karen on the upturned hull to help get the boat upright. Crews were swapped back when normal orientation was resumed, and C&K were able to start the race just a little late. It says a lot for them that they pitched in to help, and I'd like to think that this spirit of camaraderie pretty much defines us as a fleet. I certainly hope so anyway.<br />
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The race itself was fantastic, a beat to B, broad reach to Y, beat to A, run to N, broad reach to P and another to S, one-legged beat to J and a 2-sail reach back to D. As the race wore on it became a little windier, and we were just behind a trapezing Dart on the 2-sail reach to D when a gust simply flattened him, which is not something you see all that often. But it was the 3-sail reaches that made my day; in particular the one from N to P which was pitched just perfectly for a flat out reach. And if you've never experienced a Fireball going flat out with the kite up on a sunny day, you're missing out big time; the boat goes like it's on rails, no wobbles, no nosediving, just the sunshine flashing off the spray, the black patches racing in and you're locked in to the elements and that sense of speed...<br />
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So we won that one, although I'd happily have come last for the pleasure of just sailing that race in those conditions. Peter & Paul came in 2nd, Pete & Richard were 3rd, Colin & Karen ran out of time and retired, and Jane & Pat finished 4th and last - Mo & Ellie having hit the showers long since. Many thanks to JR and the OD team for laying on such a great course - a veritable banquet compared to the usual sandwich. Well I enjoyed it anyway, as perhaps you can tell?Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-84259275143753155192017-04-02T20:58:00.000+01:002017-05-08T20:59:11.915+01:00FluffyNot a bad little race this morning. The wind started out at a healthy 2-3 and died away over the course of the morning until there was virtually sod all by the end. But with random lumps in it, to keep us on our toes. At the start, I thought the beat was going to evaporate, but it stayed true-ish, albeit with plenty of shifts to keep us amused.<br />
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The rule of thumb seemed to be dont-go-right, even though the first beat initially looked like a one-leg port tack affair. Paul & Ian were a bit previous on the start line, and there's another rule of thumb that says you can't sail straight along the line and expect it to end well. We sidled up to it and got a great start by the pin, went left, and had a decent lead over the entire fleet by the windward mark.<br />
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There followed a 3-sail reach to Y, another to X, and a dead run to J, where the entire fleet closed up on us. Then a fetch to OL and start again. If the beats worked well for us, the off wind legs were decidedly trickier, and a variety of boats caught us on these. Colin & Karen steamed past us on the leg from Y to X when the 3-sail reach with crew out on the wire became a head to wind affair. But that next run was a killer for them, and it was Pete & Richard who took up the chase, nearly getting us on a windless fetch to OL. Peter & Paul had been looking dangerous too (as usual), but sailed into a massive hole on the 2nd (?) beat which must have cost them 5 minutes. Bob & Ellie were also out there somewhere, but never really recovered from going right on the 1st beat.<br />
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Eventually we lapped both the Contenders, which were apparently not quite as fast as Malcolm would have us believe, and sailed across the finish line to a stony silence. Had we been over at the start perhaps, or am I just going deaf? Anyhow, one race in the failing wind was quite enough for me, so I went home to cut the grass.<br />
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(Footnote - we were apparently over the line at the start. Aagh!)Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-24475003591987095102017-03-26T21:00:00.000+01:002017-05-08T21:01:28.347+01:00SummertimeBritish summertime arrived with a bang yesterday, with sunshine and a very sensible amount of wind. Another thing that arrived with a bang was Pete Badham and Steve, only in their case it was just the sound of the forestay parting company with the deck. So that's what the little split-ring is for.... With another fireball still ashore sans crew and Peter & Ellen upside down, we were down to four boats when the start gun went.<br />
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The line being a bit biased, ie you crossed it a 90 degrees, everyone wanted to be by the committee boat, which led to a bit of congestion at that point. I had spotted Jane & Pat coming in from a jaunty angle upwind, and Bob & Paul sidling up from below, so we held back and watched as Peter & Paul wandered into the filling in the sandwich, and the whole lot then charged across the line a good 5 seconds early. The OD delivered his verdict - "You're all over except Mike" as we sauntered past and made a decent getaway.<br />
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Up to the orange thing parked by OL, although for a true beat you'd have had to have parked it on the patio of the clubhouse. Then a can-we-can't-we 3-sail reach to D. We 2-sailed out to X every time before hoisting the kite, whereas others did variously well just 2-sailing the whole thing - depending on how windy it was at the time. Gybe at D and 2-sail reach to Y, then a decent dead run to B and a hideous fetch back to M to start the next lap. Peter & Paul had some good reaches and were close enough at M that they overtook us on the next beat, but we rolled them on the next leg to D by virtue of going higher (for X) while they went straight there again. I think our detour worked, as we ended the leg with a bigger lead than we started it. After that, we just kept doing all the same things - go inshore on the beat and go via X on the reach, and we kept a decent lead. Bob & Paul were keeping up well in 3rd place, and Pete & Steve came through the rest of the fleet to claim 4th after a late start.<br />
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Sadly I was too broken to do the afternoon, so somebody else will have to explain that one. I did gather that Peter & Ellen, with boat freshly back from the menders, were in a collision with a Dart and will be taking the boat straight back there again. Doh!<br />
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Then later we did the AGM and prize-giving thing. Upshot, new fleet captain is Paul Anthony (cheers cheers), new fleet champions and deserved winners of most of the tinware are Peter Wood and David Merritt . Bob & Paul hoovered up most of the Silver fleet prizes. Many thanks to outgoing FC Pat Collison and the entire rest of the committee, all of whom are staying on for another year. Well done everyone!Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-43205959051091066192017-03-05T21:03:00.000+00:002017-05-08T21:03:51.250+01:00MonsterSo that was quite funny. Paul rang me up to say it would be monster windy, so we shouldn't sail. I told him it would be OK, and we went up the club, and it was about a F2-3, so we rigged up. Iain & Tom turned up but didn't rig because it wasn't windy enough, so there were only 8 of us out there at the start line when the wind started to shift and build. Karen (on OD) set a triangle with a beat which matched the current wind and some reaches which were clearly going to be too broad and too close respectively, and off we went.<br />
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Having started near D, the course took us up to A, then M (a leg so short that the kite wasn't flying by the time we got there). Then the long leg down to H, which was always going to be too broad to be any fun, and was basically a run by the time we did it. We lost one boat up at M and Mo and Richard to a gybe halfway to H. Back off towards D, observing that the close reach was now a beat (Karen said she planned that way). We passed Jane & Pat on that leg - coping well with the rising wind. Peter & Paul overtook us at D, but then capsized on the short fetch to the gate, so we started the next lap in the lead.<br />
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The beat was now very one-sided as the wind had gone further West, and we weren't pointing too well, and this gave Peter & Paul a bit less work to do. Round A, on past M to get further inshore, then gybe and enjoy a broad reach to H, which was way better than last lap's dead run. But the cLew of the kite got caught round the base of the forestay when bagging it, so we went on past the mark and were promptly overtaken by P&P again. Somewhere behind us, Gordon & Bryan decided to call it a day, as the wind was becoming really full on. We had already lost Colin & Ellie and JT & Quentin to verticality issues. Paul & Ian were still going strong though, and not too far back either.<br />
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Back up to A again, hoist the kite, past M, gybe, and the wind was getting a bit biblical by this stage (I hope Iain & Tom were still watching). The wind had gone fully Westerly and we were able to trapeze down this reach fully powered up and only just able to lay H. Peter & Paul had about 40 secs lead, but that dissolved when we found ourselves pointing 30 degrees higher than them coming off the mark. They tacked back, and we found we had to tack to avoid them, and suddenly we were match-racing in a F6. Oh joy! Well we tacked and they covered, but their tack was slow due to a big wave arriving, and we took a bit of a lead. Up round D for the last time, and we managed to hold it together on the perilous fetch to the gate. Yay! P&P didn't, and capsized about 20ft from the finish line. They later said they'd let go,of everything in the teeth of a big gust, and still been blown over. So we did the only thing possible, we put the kite up and hooned back to the shore. By general consent, one race was deemed to be enough.Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-64752836844705630752017-02-26T21:06:00.000+00:002017-05-08T21:11:00.101+01:00RunnyWell the weather forecasting bushes in my garden were right, 22'4 and well zipped in was the order of the day. We dialled that in, and added mucho insulating tape to strings that looked iffy, and off we jolly well went. The committee boat was over by E, which gave us a very decent idea of what the weather was up to by the time we got there. Some hanging about ensued, during which time the wind dropped a bit, and then we were off.<br />
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Most of us went left initially, and mostly pointing higher than me. Peter & Paul messed up the start, but still managed to be only a few feet behind us when we tacked, whereas we had to duck Colin & Karen and Eleanor & Richard. Mo and Ian had gone right, which didn't look so good. We went right a bit, staying out from the club shore, and next time we crossed we were in the lead. The wind was pretty full-on and the whole fleet was charging upwind at an impressive speed. So, round the orange triangle thing and back down to OL on a leg that was nearly, but not quite, a run. This may not have been very exciting, but it did at least allow everyone to put their kites up. Round OL, inshore, water to tack please, and then up the shore towards M. Somewhere en-route we lost Ellie and Richard - one minute they were keeping up nicely, the next the boom was out and the crew was in the boat furtling about. Our lead extended when everyone else over-stood the mark, so round M and off towards X. Well this one turned out to be a dead run and was the first place where the kite refused to go up, requiring the rig tension to be released before it would comply. Only the fact that it was very windy kept the thing from going under the boat while we mucked about with it. Anyhoo, gybe halfway down and set the kite for the approach to X, then carry on down to H on exactly the same angle. Somewhere around this point we lost Mo & Ian... nothing bad happened, they just decided it was too windy for all this gybing on 'slow' runs.<br />
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Down with the kite at H and another gybe before hooning off to E on a beam reach - which was fast but bloody hard work. Then through the gate and do it all again. Well the wind was a bit up and down, but when it was up it was distinctly challenging. I'd got the jib bars out and up (as usual, they're bent and won't go down), plenty cunno and outhaul, so we were driving on the lower third of both sails. When the gusts came in there would be a bit of a wobble, followed by more speed, and it was clear that it was only the initial wobble that was likely to get us, as the boat was very comfortable after that. We stayed out from the windward shore where possible, where the wind was cleaner and the gusts a little fewer.<br />
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We pulled out a bit of a lead on P&P when their kite bagging was slow at OL, then a bit more by staying out on the next beat. The kite wouldn't go up again (lose a bit), but we were still ahead at H. Kite down and harden up for a quick reach to put on speed before gybing, then a fast and wet reach back to E. Now I had put my woolly hat away on the run, reasoning that it was too wet and floppy to be any good, but the amount of icy water that went over my head on the way to E convinced me to get it back and put it on again. P&P had capsized at H, so we had plenty of time to get hatted up, and it also gave Marcellus a chance to stick the shortened course flag up (for which much thanks). We then came ashore and put the boat away, reasoning that the forecast was for the PM to be windier still.<br />
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After getting changed we came out to find that it had dropped off and looked very nice. Doh!Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-75553859837128458002017-02-19T21:12:00.000+00:002017-05-08T21:14:01.663+01:00Bonza!A great day's sailing today. Warmer, with lighter winds and better courses it was a lot more fun than last Sunday.<br />
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Race 1, orange thing near B, M, K, X, T. Helen & Paul managed to capsize on the first tack of the first beat. Richard & Steve were excellent, arriving at the windward mark in 2nd place and hanging on down the nice 3-sail reach to M before being rolled by Peter & Paul on the dead run to K. There followed a decent 3-sail reach to X and another one to T. We battled it out with Peter & Paul for the rest of the race and emerged victorious. Further back, JT & Quentin were engaged in a running battle with Paul & Clive, with Jane & Pat bringing up the rear after Helen retired.<br />
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In the afternoon the course was M, J, S, Y, OL, T. We had just got our nose ahead of Peter & Paul on the approach to M when a header arrived and denied us the chance to get around it without tacking. P&R were upwind of us and stopped us tacking, so I decided to go head to wind, so they'd have to tack off and then I could too. In a particularly brilliant bit of tactical thinking, they went head to wind and then sat there while we drifted onto the mark and started going backwards. Meanwhile the entire fleet sailed past both of us, one of them yelling 'starboard' on the way, thanks for that. We then took ages to get going forwards again and do our turn, by which time we were virtually last - ahead of only Helen & Paul who had tried to go to the orange mark instead of M.<br />
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Well, the beauty of a dead run is that you can at least get a different route downwind, and we gained a bit before we got to J, and then a bit more on the fine 3-sail reach to S when Richard & Steve took Peter & Paul high. I think we overtook R&S and JT & Quentin on the next beat to Y, and closed up on the lead boats on the excellent 3-sail reach to OL. P&R got past Paul & Clive on that leg after a brief luffing battle, and we all sailed up through the gate in a big lump to start the next lap. After that, Peter & Paul got away a bit, and Paul & Clive tried to sail to M instead of Y (after S), so went from 3rd to last in one easy move. JT & Quentin arrived at T the last time ahead of Richard & Steve, but a 49er claimed water and gave Richard & Steve the vital few boat lengths they needed to get across the line ahead.<br />
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The longer course was sooooo much more interesting than the short stuff we've had to put up with recently, and the combination of dead runs and beam reaches worked really well in the marginal conditions. Thanks to Colin and his team on the committee boat, and we'll be back next week for more good racing.Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-53217256041045725182017-02-12T21:15:00.000+00:002017-05-08T21:15:37.091+01:00Snow jokeWell I suspected the weather might decide to rain on our parade, although in the event it also snowed on it. However, we still achieved a turnout of 8 boats, which is pretty good for a cold and windy day in Feb. If you were wearing the right stuff, the cold didn't really matter - in my case the right stuff was a new drysuit from David Rowe and 3 thermal layers underneath, plus 2 woolly hats. It worked well.<br />
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Out at the start, Gordon and Bryan capsized 3 times before the gun went, and packed up, whereas Pete and Ellie only capsized the once and carried on. The course was dull - a beat, 2 runs and a close reach, and Peter and Paul demonstrated their massive superiority in the face of this while Paul and I stayed just ahead of everyone else. Paul & Ian were overtaken for 3rd place by Colin & Karen on the last run.<br />
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In the afternoon, Eleanor & Richard took up the essential duty of hassling Peter & Paul, leaving the rest of us to fight it out for 3rd place. The course was more interesting, even if it still had no decent 3-sail reaches, and places were lost by people who tried to fly the kite on the too-close bits. Colin & Karen fell prey to the leg from K to N, and we lost a bit attempting the kite from P to K. We had to do some further catching up after Paul dropped both his woolly hats in the water and we went back to rescue them. In the end, we deprived Paul & Ian of 3rd place on the last run and gained the subject of a decent rules discussion for the bar afterwards while we did so. Next week promises to be warmer, maybe 12 degrees or so, and maybe there will be some excellent 3-sail reaches too.Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-1834140100890777052016-12-26T21:22:00.000+00:002017-05-08T21:22:31.663+01:00Boxing Day 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Merry Christmas </div>
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from me and the Poorly Paul</div>
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<br />Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-45717992526047593372016-12-06T21:26:00.000+00:002017-05-08T21:28:42.088+01:00OD Duty & picsNot a bad turnout of 6 or 7 Fireballs on Sunday, considering we were on duty and 2 boats worth of helms were at Centre Parks. The photography didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped though. The expensive 'proper' camera with the mechanical zoom and many megapixels decided its battery was flat after 45 seconds. The action-cam gave up after 2 mins, so that wiped out the morning's photo-shoot. For the afternoon I dug out the trusty iPhone and got a few snaps, but the lack of a proper zoom meant that you had to sail into the committee boat before I could get a decent shot. One of the Solos took this concept a bit too far and demolished the gunwale of his boat on the engine of the committee boat whilst starting, and I didn't even have the camera out at the time...<br />
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<br />Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-74882967114389837862016-09-05T21:09:00.001+01:002017-05-08T21:32:06.086+01:00Hero to zeroDate: 4th September 2016<br />
Wind: W - NW, F2-3<br />
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The Fevas had got some sort of an event this weekend, so my Sunday didn't start very well at all. Arriving at the club to find that all the car-parking spaces were taken, after some fruitless searching I abandoned the car in the Severn Trent bit and hoped for the best. The changing rooms were similarly challenging, and out on the water the open meeting was using the bit of the water between H and P, which wasted Toft bay completely and apparently left only the bit from Y up to B for the club racing. (In point of fact the Fevas were doing W/L racing, so there was all the nearer side of the lake to be had too, only it didn't appear we'd be using that bit for some reason). Grumble.<br />
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Race 1: 8 boats. Start at Y, Orange Thing (up near B), N, A, Y. <br />
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Well we came in from the LHS in the last minute with no watch, and tacked onto starboard under the bow of Colin & Karen. Paul yelled 'Let's go', so (assuming he'd heard a hoot) we luffed up and shot across the line in fine style taking C&K with us, only to hear the gun go about 5 seconds later. So we gybed round the pin and heard another 2 hoots - that's a general recall then. But after a 10 second dawdle I observed the flag was 'X' and the fleet were still going, so we took off in hot pursuit.<br />
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Beat up to Orange Thing, arrive in about 4th place, run down to N, one-sided beat up to A and decent reach to Y, arriving moments after the FH fleet went off, now got lots of traffic to contend with too. Massive grumble.<br />
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Well it took a while, but eventually Nick & Richard got a beat wrong, and it was just us and Colin & Karen, whom we eventually passed on the run to N - it having proved impossible to do it on the beat. First place for us and not altogether a bad experience - score 15 points for tactical runs in moderate airs and another 20 for the 3-sail reach to Y, which was quite tasty. Then lose 20 points for the hooked finish, tiny beat and longer fetchy beat, and another seven million for all the club boats packed into a a quarter of the lake all getting in my way.<br />
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Race 2: 7 boats. Start near K, B, C, Y, Orange Thing, K, Gate<br />
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Now this was a bit better! More wind and a decent length beat up to B, where we managed to be notionally in the lead and yet still had to cross behind almost everybody at one point or another. Very close at the top and we arrived just in front, and I'll forgive the starboard rounding and the close 2-sail reach to C under the wall. Then a decent run down to Y and a very tasty 3-sail reach to the Orange Thing, which was parked upwind of K and so close to the shore that you practically had to walk round it. Gybe there, and sort the kite out PDQ as we get it down at K and start the next lap.<br />
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So back up the beat, now under pressure from - well - almost everyone. We observed a bit of a port-starboard thing near the top which slowed down both parties and presumably prompted a 720 from Nick & Richard, so we were still in the lead and in some decent breeze on the leg across to C. Which went summat like this:<br />
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Me: "Pressure coming..."<br />
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Paul: (does impression of a heavy thing)<br />
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Wind: "Hellooo Baby!"<br />
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Paul: (adjusts trapeze height downwards)<br />
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Trapeze line: "Twang!"<br />
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Paul: "Splash!"<br />
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Boat: (capsizes)<br />
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Paul generally goes a bit catatonic when sufficiently diluted, and rather than trying to beat Adam Peaty's time for the 100m breastroke, just mooches laconically in your general direction at a speed slightly slower than a drifting capsized Fireball. So it was up to me to bound onto the centreboard and haul the boat upright, then sail it back over to him and drag him into the boat. I achieved this just as the last Fireball (exc. Jane & Pat who had capsized earlier for no obvious reason) went past...<br />
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Now I was feeling pretty hyped what with all the winning and the exercise and the near dunking, and I do like a challenge, so I suggested to Paul that the game was not over yet. We just had to get it round C with no trapeze, and the rest of the lap was all on starboard for which we still had a trapeze. So we did just that, and by the time we got to the orange buoy we were back in the lead again by virtue of a close call for water. Then a short 3-sail reach to K (no trapeze, but worked OK), round the mark, across the line, and no finish gun as we've got another lap to do...<br />
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Hmmm, that's quite a long beat in a F2-3 with no port hand trapeze. Still, we manned up, tried to do the windy bits on starboard, and ended up hanging Nick & Richard out to the LHS before tacking for the mark and getting there still in the lead. A last bit of legwork to C, and then onto the run to Y. <br />
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Well of course they all converged on us on the run, JT & Quentin trying to sneak past to leeward, Nick & Richard and Colin & Karen trying to go over the top. But we hung on (ie, got lucky), and the wind kicked in for an excellent 3-sail reach to the Orange Thing which gave us a decent lead, maybe 10 seconds, and that's all we needed. So we gybed the kite at OT, got it set, just need to get to K about 30 yards away and we're home and dry, with a display of excellence in the teeth of adversity that would go down in the annals of history. Yay!<br />
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But as the kite set, I realised that, given the lack of a trapeze line, the extra breeze was not our friend here. Paul started to get the kite down, at which point one of his arms became cramped up and it took a bit longer than usual. And if I'd let the kicker off, I might have kept the boom out of the water...<br />
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But it was not to be.<br />
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So I clambered over the side and stood on the centreboard again, but I didn't rush this time as it was quite clear that there was no way back from this one. The fleet was pretty tightly packed, so they all came past fairly quickly, and then waved nicely to us as they came back from the finish line and headed for home. And I stood there a bit longer thinking deep thoughts, before pulling the boat up, retrieving the crew from the water and then plodding off that way ourselves.<br />
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(Long Sigh)<br />
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But was it good? Well, yes, it was. In spite of the gear failure and capsizes, or maybe partly because of them, it was one of the closest races I've been involved in for a while. Unlike most weeks however, it wasn't just one boat giving us a hard time, it was nearly all of them. That minor detail brings a lot to the party. And the lack of space - claustrophobic in the 1st race, but barely noticeable in the more spread out 2nd. We would have needed a lot more if it had been windier of course.<br />
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Back next week then for more of the same, just got to fix the damn trap line now.<br />
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<br />
With thanks to the OD team for a great day's sailing in tricky conditions, and to Bryan on the committee boat for the pics and these little vids:<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bryan.underdown/videos/10210484183202227/">https://www.facebook.com/bryan.underdown/videos/10210484183202227/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bryan.underdown/videos/10210484253563986/">https://www.facebook.com/bryan.underdown/videos/10210484253563986/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-52016932172331173122016-08-01T17:05:00.001+01:002016-08-01T17:05:43.617+01:00Going left<br />
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A bit of a changeable F2-3 wind yesterday and the improv comedy Fireball fleet was out in force, albeit lacking a few of the regulars. The OD gave us one of the best courses I've seen in months, complete with 2 beats and a variety of different reaches. Ho for the start line then, hit the middle of the line and mooch towards the pin hoping to arrive when the gun went. Well the wind promptly dropped and Mo & Holly and Paul & Clive shot out ahead on port tack flyers, bickering loudly over the availability of water at the pin (hint: you can't have any). So we plodded off left followed by Bob & Paul, the rest of the fleet went right, and when we arrived at the top mark (near Y) you can guess who were 2nd last and last respectively. Then our kite wouldn't go up and we were in last place, and Bob mentioned in passing that he wouldn't be following us up any more beats any time soon.</div>
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Soooo, run down to K, fleet bunched up a bit, broad reach to T, and we were just behind Helen & Paul, now 2nd last. Again the whole fleet were heading right for the beat to X whereas the wind looked better on the left. We went left and popped out kinda mid-fleet at the top. Yay! Reach to J arriving still just ahead of Mo & Holly, then up through the gate to start the next lap.</div>
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Well, once again it looked good on the left, and once again everyone else went right, only this time we ended up in first place, just ahead of Pete & Richard. After that, the dice fell in our favour on pretty much every leg, including an excellent 3-sail reach to T on the last lap, when the wind kicked in and the sun came out. That was great, and we came home with a massive lead at the end too.</div>
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Race 2 then, again we hit the middle of the line with 20 secs to go, but this time the wind dropped away to nothing, and we and all the other starboard tack boats just sat there for a bit. Meanwhile, 30ft away at the pin, 3 boats were enjoying a very stiff F3. Two of them bounded across the line in good order and proceeded up the beat, while the 3rd (Bob & Paul), hooned across into the dead air that afflicted the rest of us and promptly capsized to windward. Well I don't mind getting a crap start if someone is going to lay on entertainment like that for me, and we were laughing so much we could barely sail a straight line when the wind finally arrived. To add insult to injury, somebody (who shall remain nameless) called starboard on Bob & Paul on the basis that they were sitting in the water on port tack and the mast was still hovering a few feet above the water, and prevailed on them to do turns. For the record, if the crew are in the water and the rudder isn't, they can generally claim to be not under control (therefore an obstruction) and argue exemption from that kind of thing.</div>
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Anyway, after that fabulous start the rest of the race was a bit pedestrian, Mo & Holly eventually overhauled both Jane & Pat and Paul & Clive and came home in first place. We clawed our way back to 2nd place, were overtaken at the end of the last beat by Pete & Richard, then rolled them on the 3-sail reach to J in a very satisfying manner, leaving them to pick up 3rd place. Helen & Paul had one of those going-up-the-beat-in-the-same-direction-but-on-opposite-tacks moments, followed by one of those 90-degree-headers and then one of those sitting-in-the-water-moments, which at least gave Bob a chance to catch up a bit. Everyone then headed for the bar for a well earned drinkie. Lovely!</div>
Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-2250318360615867922016-05-03T21:07:00.004+01:002016-05-03T21:11:38.121+01:00Extreme Pursuit Racing <div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="3bbb9" data-offset-key="9v99f-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="9v99f-0-0">May Day pursuit race: F4-6, Course OL, S, N, C, F</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9v99f-0-0">So that was pretty epic. It probably shouldn't have been, the course was nothing to write home about - an olympic triangle in disguise with a wing mark that was way upwind of where it should have been. And the start was a joke - well mine was anyway - about 2 minutes behind Martyn & Richard</span><span data-offset-key="9v99f-4-0">, who were themselves at least a minute late. So you can see that it didn't bode well, and we were a tad downhearted as we crossed the line some time after the Darts had gone with the board showing "next start 33.5". </span></div>
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Anyway, we trekked up to the first mark - OL, and we already knew that the dead run back to S was too dead for comfort, so we gybed immediately and headed out to T before gybing back. We were promptly rewarded with a very tasty broad reach, and arrived at S with less of a massive deficit than we started with. The next beat was up to N, where we gained a bit more ground on M & R, and when we arrived it was just in time to see them performing a 360 for touching the mark. Well it was kinda windy by now, and when they gybed they ended up doing the other sort of 360 - the one where the mast goes under the boat. So we trotted off down the hideous close reach to C, overtaking a Dart somewhere along the way.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're going high here - didn't dare bear away yet!</td></tr>
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Quick gybe at C, up with the kite, and of course the leg to F is too broad to be exciting - not far off a run really. So we went low towards the shore and then came back up for a bit of speed towards the end, and that was the end of the first lap.</div>
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We then did the whole thing all over again, and it started to get properly windy around the end of the 2nd lap. Coming up the beat from F to OL I dropped the jib bars right out - we were already on 22'4" rake and some extra pre-bend - and somewhere along the way we overtook the other Dart which gives you some idea how fast we were going at that point. M & R were coming back at us though, you're never safe when they're around, particularly when the wind gets up. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXoHlGBfhN6IAysUPgS7v6mjaZfeu70VPXMHCdJhFdudO3Ypn-JY8B54njnG2TcvziD0YrNt4pBgmkMAjVjYQL6YMH_cFUla07eg622XC3HYT_gE2iUYf_0ATgACvKlKvcZ3FH3pPwNEo/s1600/13151511_966718356775571_5235575328541910134_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXoHlGBfhN6IAysUPgS7v6mjaZfeu70VPXMHCdJhFdudO3Ypn-JY8B54njnG2TcvziD0YrNt4pBgmkMAjVjYQL6YMH_cFUla07eg622XC3HYT_gE2iUYf_0ATgACvKlKvcZ3FH3pPwNEo/s400/13151511_966718356775571_5235575328541910134_n.jpg" width="328" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beating angles pretty poor, but wow that was fast!</td></tr>
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Back down the run, back up to N, and we were halfway along that leg to C (now both unpleasant and enormously hard work) when I deduced from the penetrating cold wet feeling that I had forgotten to do the drysuit right up. Doh!</div>
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So we fixed that after the gybe at C, went low again, and shortly after that I wished we hadn't as the wind went properly mental, resulting in a barely-under-control hyperspace reach with the bear-aways giving us some (frankly unwanted) views of the shrubbery on the shore. Thankfully we avoided ending up the bushes and pulled out a better lead on the Dart, plus for an added bonus M & R had disappeared from my rear-view mirror by virtue of being upside down near C. I assumed the hideous reach plus mental wind had claimed them, but apparently they'd run out of the good stuff and gone in to windward.</div>
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One more epic high-wind beat, and then it started to calm down again. Jib-bars back in, Fevas all overtaken, just the Fred to go. But this was a quality Fred and we'd given it the best part of 8 minutes headstart, so I wasn't too surprised when the finish boats loomed into view before we got anywhere near it.</div>
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So that was more a battle against the elements than a proper race, but it was pretty awesome nonetheless, and a salutary reminder that the Fireball is the best boat you can be in when it gets properly windy. <span style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Martyn & Richard</td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="71si4-0-0">With thanks as always to Malcolm Lewin for the pics.</span></div>
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Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-90509369083262253672016-04-05T11:54:00.001+01:002016-04-05T11:57:05.546+01:00Comedy racingRace 1: Triangular thing (right next to N), H, S, T, P, Gate<br />
Turnout: 9 boats<br />
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The race started early, or so I'm told. I didn't have a watch, so all I know is that we were able to launch from the shore, sail to and then across the start-line, gybe and then start about 5 seconds later - which counts as about right in my book. No idea what the course was, and we had to tack off pdq as our start wasn't exactly optimal. So we went right, found a header, tacked onto starboard and were lifted to the mark, arriving there ahead of almost everybody else (apart from the headstart brigade). Woohoo! There was a certain amount of close-quarters sailing as we went around the mark along with about 4 other boats - Peter & Dave denied us an overlap but gave room to Helen & Paul, Colin & Karen arrived at speed on starboard and found P&D in the way, but generously didn't T-bone them. Helen came out of the melee first, with us 2nd. We then got past Helen & Paul and the early mob on the next few legs and created a huge and unassailable lead, which we then promptly lost on the 2nd last lap. No amount of going the wrong way up the remaining beats helped the situation, and we ended up 2nd to Peter & Dave. I think Colin & Karen were 3rd, but I could be wrong. Pete & Richard had been in 3rd but did some swimming, Gordon & Bryan were doing OK when they lassoed the tiller with mainsheet at the gybe mark and also capsized, and a good time was had by all.<br />
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Race 2: Triangular thing (still near N), H, E, X, P, Gate<br />
Turnout: 7 boats<br />
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This was something of a comedy of errors. We went right on the first beat again, but this time the windshift favoured the lefties and we rounded roughly 2nd last, with only Pete & Richard worse off than us, having gone right even sooner and further than we did. Oh, and Bob & Paul, who were upside down. Y'see, when the windshift arrived it came with a nice big lump of wind, and we tacked to take advantage and found ourselves sitting very nearly on B&P's wind. That went OK for about 10 secs, until we accelerated into the exactly-on-their-wind position, at which point they capsized to windward. Sorry boys.<br />
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OK, so hoon off down the (rather attractive) 3-sail reach to H, gybe, and another decent-ish 3-sailer to E, where we got stuck behind Paul & Clive. Grumble. Titchy beat to X, titchy reach to P, and off we go again for lap 2. At this point we'd got past P&C and were closing on Colin & Karen, and even leaders Peter & Dave didn't look too far away. Then disaster struck, initially in the form of a pole that refused to go out due to an errant bobble on the pole downhaul. It took us half of the leg to identify the problem, and then when it was fixed, Paul was taken aback by the lack of resistance to the pole and basically chucked it round the forestay. Those of you who have done this will know that it's a bit of a sod to retrieve, so we lost the rest of the leg doing that while Colin & Karen did a runner and Paul & Clive overtook us again. Trot down to E behind P&C again. Grumble moan.<br />
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Best part of a lap later, once more ahead of Paul & Clive and closing on C&K, we enjoyed a trouble free hoon down to H, gybed, took up the slack in the spinnaker sheet and observed that it was no longer attached to the spinnaker. So we gybed again, hoping to catch the kite unawares, but it wandered off and hid behind the jib, so no alternative other than to gybe back, pull kite down, manoeuvre sheet round the forestay, tie it back on again. Colin & Karen disappeared over the horizon, and Pete & Richard promptly hove into view and nipped past. Moan, grumble, moan. So we got back past them on the 3-sailer to P, were forced high, had to get kite down, gybe, hurtle back shouting for water, nipped round just ahead. Phew.<br />
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We then had to fight them off for the next beat, nipped round the windward mark just ahead (I think) and hoisted the kite, whereupon the eagle-eyed crew observed that the spinnaker guy rope was no longer connected in any way to the twinner, courtesy of the re-stringing job he'd done previously. Some conversation ensued, and we resolved the problem by wrapping the guy around the chain-plate and holding on to the end. This got us going again, just in time to see Pete & Richard zooming past to windward. Gaaah!<br />
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However, adjustment of the guy was now a bit tricky, so when a big lump of wind arrived and the leg became a close reach, it rapidly became apparent that we couldn't lay H with the kite up. So we ditched it, hardened up (now on a very close reach), and neatly overtook P&R who had belatedly come to the same conclusion about the viability of the kite and were still getting it down. We then did about mach 5 towards a couple of Lasers approaching the mark, and after a brief discussion with them over the potential for having water (they thought not), went round on the inside anyway.<br />
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Off to E, then the short beat up to X, whereupon some sort of a windshift occurred and we were overtaken by Pete & Richard AND Paul & Clive. Noooooh! Then round X, up with kite, roll P&R but couldn't catch P&C, so ended up still behind them at the next mark (P) and across the line for 3rd place at the finish (Peter & Dave having won the thing some time previously).<br />
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Excellent race!Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-17711743455550164952016-03-01T14:48:00.001+00:002016-03-01T14:48:22.308+00:00Optimistic<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
A very decent blast round was had by 6 Fireballs on Sunday, with another boat's-worth of our boys on the committee boat.</div>
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Race 1: F3, course F, P, J, OL</div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">This was a great 4-boat battle for the lead which lasted for at least 2 full laps before Mo & Holly broke away to eventually win the thing, There were places to be won and lost up each beat, and some real damage was done on the runs too, mostly to me. Peter & David pinched 2nd place at the end from Colin & Karen, leaving me and Paul to claim 4th place. Further back were Helen & Richard who had misjudged the start time massively, and Jane & Pat who had a tendency to reach up the beats but otherwise looked good (and fast) in the new blue boat. Memorable points were the Optimist training session which dictated your route up the beats, and the 2-sail reach to J which occasionally looked to be kiteable, whilst generally turning out not to be just after you put the thing up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">Having enjoyed ourselves in the morning and braved the totally crowded wetbar at lunch, we all turned out for the PM race too. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">Race 2: F3-4, course G, F, X, P, E, J, OL</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">This one was a real blast, although less competitive as the wind dictated the results quite early on. Beating up from OL to G, it was all to play for as we approached the far shore on starboard tack. I decided that going on up under the shore would be a stupid idea, so tacked off and headed towards Toft Bay. Peter & Dave carried on to a point close to the shore before tacking, whereupon a dark line of wind appeared on the water parallel to the shore like a motorway leading directly to G. P&D promptly scorched off along this path, going faster and pointing higher than anyone else, and were never seen again. Mo & Holly pulled a crash tack in front of me when the wind shifted about 45 degrees, and we both trekked off to G together in the freshening breeze. Round G, kite up, over to F, then a dead run down to X. We did these alongside Mo & Holly and Jane & Pat, then broke away somewhat on the fast 2-sail reach to P. At this point it was really quite chuffin' windy, and respect is due to everyone who didn't capsize (ie, everyone). But the windy stuff takes its toll on the lighter crews and the wobblier boats, and the race became a bit processional after that. Still, after beating up to E we had the consolation prize of a cool 3-sail reach right across the lake to J, and the opportunity to sail through the Optimist training session which was neatly parked en-route.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">After a couple of laps of this, the wind was dropping again, the finish line loomed, and having had the kite up from E to J to OL, Paul and I decided to leave it up for the little bit of a fetch to the finish line. In the event, it turned out you couldn't lay the line with the kite up, so we Aussie-dropped it (and briefly the crew too) for the last few yards, much to the amusement of Bob & Paul on the committee boat. Mo & Holly were next, then Colin & Karen, then Helen & Richard, then Jane & Pat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">Good racing in a sensible amount of breeze, and although the temperatures were around 5-6 degrees, I was occasionally too hot and had to remove my woolly hat at one point. That's what happens when you have to work hard at your sailing!</span></span></div>
Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-35106334090817997012016-02-26T10:13:00.002+00:002016-02-26T10:15:22.842+00:00More capsizing!<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.456px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My time on the water seems to be reducing every week at present. Last week I only got one race, this week not even that much...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There were 13 Fireball sailors on-site today, so enough to put 6.5 boats on the water. However, one person didn't arrive until midday, two were on the committee boat, and another 4 decided it was too cold and stayed in the wet-bar. That left a meagre 3 boats doing the race.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wind: onshore and chilly F4 ish<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />Course: H, X, J, A, P, C, K, Gate</span></span></div>
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Off the line we were immediately blown into the long grass by Peter & Dave, pointing higher and going at least as fast as us upwind. Note the lack of leech tension on my boat (778) compared to the others, maybe it was down to that.<br />
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Paul & Paul made a decent fist of the first bit of the beat, but then went off even lower than us and ended up way back at the top mark. Peter & Dave had a bit of a lead on us by then, but we clawed a bit back on the run down to X. We then bagged our kite before gybing, whereas they left it up and promptly capsized even before they had a chance to find out that the next leg was too close for it. So I did my little 'Happy day oh happy day' song again and hared off to J, quick gybe, and up with the kite again.</div>
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The next leg was a pretty good 3-sail reach to A, kite up, zoom past clubhouse and committee boat, where's Malcolm and his camera when you need him. Then a beat up to P, another nice 3-sail reach to C, and a 2-sail reach back to K that I can only describe as a bit tricky. </div>
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Armed with a decent lead, we started the next lap and were still well in front at H and X. However, the wind dropped for us on the way to J, and Peter & Dave rapidly arrived with their own personal gust to sit just behind us at the gybe mark. OK, up with the kite for another blast down to A, and this time it was even windier, so a whole lot of fun. We were photogenic as hell, straight past the clubhouse, surely Malcolm would snap us this time and win prizes for awesome pics...</div>
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Anyway, round A and P&D were too close for comfort, but there's probably only 3 legs left, just got to keep it together for another 20 mins or so. P&D tacked, we tacked to cover them, Paul left the jib cleated and we promptly capsized. He then fell in the water and left yours truly to do the centreboard thing, then climbed back in and said he was too cold to carry on. Apparently he'd been in the Bahamas for the last 2 weeks, 30 degrees in the shade etc, and didn't much like the 3 or so degrees stuff that had just poured into his wetsuit. So we wobbled off back to the shore and packed up. Peter & Dave carried on round to win, and Paul & Paul had 'a bit of trouble' on the 2-sail reach, but ended up a well deserved 2nd place.</div>
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For the record, I was wearing a drysuit and 2 thermal layers plus winter gloves and a balaclava and a wooly hat on top of that, and I was absolutely toasty the whole time I was out there. It wasn't even all that windy, well nothing like last week anyway. Just wear everything you own and get out there, days like this are few and far between and too good to miss.</div>
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Bring a hardy perennial crew with you though.</div>
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Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-83377145935874839422016-02-07T19:02:00.004+00:002017-05-08T21:33:01.708+01:00Last minute stuff"Don't try any last minute...stuff", said the assassin Mr Teatime to the figure of Death, while waving around something dangerous and pointy.<br />
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"I <i>am</i> last minute stuff", replied Death.<br />
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After which it all ended rather badly for Mr Teatime, if memory serves correctly. You want more? go read the book - The Hogfather by T. Pratchett, he wrote some sublime prose, whereas this is just a second rate sailing blog.<br />
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Out on the lake, nobody died, it was more a case of wounded pride and some bruises to the crew, but it was undeniably a bit last-minutey at the end, and every bit as exciting.<br />
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Race 1 (and only)<br />
Course: Ridiculous Triangle Thing (near N), T, E, G, Gate<br />
Wind: 15-20mph from the SW<br />
Lake: Divided into 2 by the Laser event at the top end<br />
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Five boats pulled their sails up for this one, although only one had to rethread the main halyard first, a result of Poorly Paul's exuberant efforts immediately before going on holiday 2 weeks earlier. Another Fireball was present in spirit in the form of Bob and Paul on the committee boat, and Jane and Pat were fettling their boat on the bank having just had it back from the menders. Iain was kindly standing in for PP this week at the front of my boat.<br />
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Out at the start we rapidly discovered that it was not a 22'6" sort of a day as we had supposed, definitely more in the 22'4" region - ah well, too late now. To compensate, I moved the strut forwards an inch, wanged on the cunningham and let the jib bars go up and out a bit.<br />
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Once again, the gun went before we'd got the course, so we went and read it off the board before setting off in pursuit of the rest of the pack. We could have opted to just follow everyone else, but you know how that turned out last time. Unusually though, there were no Lasers at all and only a couple of Freds in the vicinity of the committee boat, which made a nice change.<br />
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Zoom up the beat then, more reaching than beating, but it was good enough that we overtook JT & Quentin pretty rapidly. Round RTT and a short broad reach to T which we could have kited, but nobody else did so we didn't bother either. We ducked inside Colin and Karen for the gybe at T, which would have been a dubious call for water if I'd actually made it, but they generously allowed us through anyway. Next up was a 2-sail reach to E, which was bloody hard work but we did at least overtake Paul & Paul (to leeward) on that one. A quick gybe at E, and there in the near distance were Peter & Dave capsizing while launching the kite. Oh happy day, oh happy day etc. <br />
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I should mention at this point that the leg from E to G was kite-able, but E is in a little bay and if you bunged the kite up straight after the gybe, you would have got it set just in time to accelerate into the bushes on the bank. So we all hooned out from the shore on 2-sails before putting kites up, and that worked well all round (except for the aforementioned Peter & Dave). On lap 1 we took the lead there, and still had it on lap 2. Both times the kite took an age to set and was a bit 'meh' when it was up, although probably better than not having it at all. On lap 3 it all came together very nicely and the boat achieved hyperspace speeds for about 60 seconds, before we had to drop it again. This is where you miss having a decent sized leg, B to G would have been the dog's bollocks, but E to G, reduced by a bit of 2-sailing out from the shore, was just not enough. Still, you takes it where you can, and that bit was bloody excellent while it lasted.<br />
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Behind us we'd had Colin & Karen and Paul & Paul for the entire race, and we didn't seem to get much of a lead on either of them. Now Peter & Dave turned up again, and simply demolished us upwind, pointing way higher and going at least as fast. They just beat us round RTT and were still just ahead at T. After a decent gybe, we were able to sail over the top of them, but they stayed firmly on our transom as both boats charged across the lake on the 2-sail reach to E. That leg was always a bit epic, and we had good value for money out of it this time too. You ride the gusts, dumping the main, bearing away wildly, then coming back up as the boat settles in, and the thing is doing about mach 5 and you glance back to see the other boat is still there, going just as unfeasibly fast as you, and still unaccountably upright too. Yeah, epic. Round E, and we came out from the shore but it was kinda windy, so we didn't get the kite up. Further on, we should have done, but we didn't and they didn't, and we figured maybe we could sit on them for the last little bit of beat up to the Gate.<br />
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Round G, adopt beating position, but now with centreboard further down and jib bars further in. We tacked onto port in unison, and I guess they thought we'd drop down onto them and be screwed, but we held a course almost as high as theirs, with the result that they just pulled gradually ahead but we stayed to windward and they couldn't tack. So we hit the lay-line, then went past it a bit, then tacked in unison again onto starboard, but we could lay the committee boat now and they were higher but slightly behind. All we had to do at this point was stay upright for 30 seconds and cross the line, whilst going as fast as possible...<br />
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What actually happened was that we came level with the transom of the committee boat, a big gust arrived, the jib wouldn't uncleat, and we capsized. And this left just enough room for Peter & Dave to charge through the gap and win the race. Iain fell onto the forestay, the boat went turtle, and then Colin & Karen zoomed past as well. Well we got it up again, with some sterling swimming from Iain to get the bow round while I cowered on the centreboard. Then we plodded over the line for 3rd place and limped home with one trapeze line trailing in the water.<br />
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You might think that this was all a bit disappointing, but in fact I enjoyed it enormously. I have always said that I'd rather lose an exciting race than win a dull one, so I could hardly complain about this one, could I? <br />
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Many thanks to Iain for doing the bounding about and swimming, not to mention the rethreading of the halyard. Next Sunday I will be screwing the jib downhaul block back onto the foredeck after it came loose when Iain hit it, but how hard can that be?<br />
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<br />Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-67869220187299728722016-01-26T11:02:00.000+00:002016-02-07T17:12:51.408+00:00Changeable<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.456px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Not a bad day's sailing. Considering we had 3 boats out of action due to them being elsewhere, and another 4 boats out of action due to their owners being elsewhere, I guess a turnout of 5 boats was pretty good. Great to have Mo & Holly back too.</div>
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The AM race was OK, albeit all the reaches were a bit broad due to the wind being less than expected. We got ourselves a bit of a lead and prepared to repel any advances from Mo & Holly or Nick & Karen, but they spent most of their time scrapping with each other and never really got close. Bob & Paul fought it out further back with Helen & Paul in the fleet boat, the latter eventually retiring with a broken tiller extension.</div>
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During the PM race the wind built up to something genuinely interesting. Our start was a good one, in that we arrived a<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">t the committee boat, got the kite down, gybed round it and then sailed across the line as the gun went, but it didn't leave much time for getting the course. So Nick and Karen were leading at P, with us just behind so we wouldn't go off the wrong way. Then they had an unexpected kite in the water and under the boat issue and had to park up to fix it. We zoomed off towards H at high speed, thinking to take in the committee boat en-route and get the course from that, but the wind was too strong so we gave up on that idea and just winged it from there (round H and back through the gate), and it seemed to turn out OK. Then a lap later the wind dropped to zero and we retired at OL, leaving Mo and Bob & Paul </span><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">to limp over to an impromptu finish line and take the honours.</span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Good fun, but it highlights the difference between having enough boats out there and not having enough boats out there. With a turnout of 6+, it always seems pretty good, but get down to 3 or 4 and it gets far less interesting. Hopefully the missing boats and owners will all return refreshed from the menders & mountains respectively, and we can get back to business as usual.</span></div>
Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-85110700420513806172016-01-12T15:03:00.001+00:002016-01-12T18:03:46.781+00:00Turned out mental again<div class="_45m_ _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="fg748-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 18px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="fg748-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">So, this was a bit of a blast. Forecast to be a non-mental amount of wind for non-mental people, it did nevertheless get a bit out of hand later on in the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px; white-space: normal;">Race 1: Force 3-4, Red buoy, OL, P, T, H, S, Gate</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well the red buoy was at the far end of the start line, so we left it to port as instructed when we crossed the line, and then went straight to OL, which we also left to port like the course-board said. This was nasty and hooky, but what can you do? We were first round the mark, but 2nd were Bob &Paul with the Edge Mainsail - was it my imagination or were they going faster than usual? As it turned out, yes they were, and promptly proved it by overtaking us on the way to P. We then spent some time trying to get past them, but it wasn't until halfway through lap 2 that we finally managed it on the run down to H. Peter & David, who had been queuing up patiently followed us through, and then overtook us. Boo!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We then chased them round whilst the rest of the fleet fought it out for 3rd place. The wind picked up a bit towards the end, and when we came ashore we discovered that the red buoy card on the course had meant 'orange triangle', which would have provided a better beat and a non-hooky OL rounding. Having devoted some time to showing my kids that the circular thing wouldn't go into the triangular hole in their activity centre at age 18mths, I remain convinced that red buoys are not the same as orange triangles. Ho hum.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Race 2: Force 3+, Orange triangle, OL, D, E, P, S, Gate</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The orange triangle course card having been duly displayed, nobody had any problem with the course. Once again Bob was near the front, but this time Peter & Dave were ahead, so we set off in pursuit of them. The wind was down a bit, so we were still on 22'7", but a big bank of cloud was heading our way. We didn't make a lot of headway against P&D for the first 25 mins, although they helped us occasionally by losing the guy rope out of the pole end on the reach to D. On lap 2 we got near their transom approaching D, when an almighty chunk of wind hit the boat, which nearly tipped us in. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Surprisingly still vaguely upright, we managed a slicker gybe than P&D and overtook them en-route to E. We then sat on their wind up to P and got a bit more lead on the way to S. Back up the beat, and they were still behind us when we hoisted our kite inside the jib on the titchy leg to OL. Getting it out wasted the entire leg, so it was a quick gybe and settle down for a showdown on the 3-sail reach from OL back to D. Well, their gybe was a bit slower than ours and involved going low in the freshening breeze, so we took off like a scalded Mr Fluffy and were going great guns when the wind made a bit of a comeback in the middle of the lake. Jeez, that was fast, but regrettably not really in the right direction. We gave up on the kite at around 2/3 distance and had a bash at 2-sailing the rest, whereupon it all went properly mental. By this stage I already had the cunningham on and the kicker right off, so there was nothing immediately available to de-power with. The boat rocketed across the lake, boom up, with only the steering keeping the whole thing vaguely vertical. We passed Nick on the way, and thankfully didn't have to go around him as frankly I doubt we'd have done it and stayed upright. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then past D, bear off, add kicker, gybe fast and hoist kite for the leg to E. Kite had other ideas, liked it better being in the bag, kept trying to come back down. I put my foot on the halyard cleat and we flew it at half-mast until we got there. Thankfully P&D were now well back, so we just had the little beat to P, which we did mainly on the jib alone, and a reach to S where we let the kite sleep in the bag, and then across the line to finish. P&M came in 2nd, Pete & Richard 3rd. There was apparently much overtaking and fun further back too, with Gordon & Bryan losing out to Bob & Paul on the last leg, and Colin & Karen retiring from a good position following a little swim at OL. Great fun, and the fabulous course with the excellent 3-sail reaches really made my day.</span></span><br />
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Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-64173111930773485902015-12-16T17:01:00.001+00:002015-12-17T09:56:29.333+00:00A game of two halves Jimmy<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.456px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
After weeks of too-much-wind, not-enough-wind and too-few-centigrades, we finally had summat you could sail in. Now admittedly the bush forecast was a little out, it was probably a bit over 20mph in the morning, and it didn't drop to 10mph until about 2pm, but it was still mostly sailable and not too cold either. </div>
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Race 1 - M, B, D, P</div>
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Of the 12 assembled Fireball sailors, 2 stayed ashore waiting for less wind and 2 more had a swim by the start-line and then came back<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> (I think). That left 4 boats to start the race. Of those, Bob & Paul capsized with the kite up at the end of the run, had a swim, destroyed their mainsail and came back in. Helen & Paul had a swim up near A, got the mast stuck in the mud, and came back in.Peter & David had a swim halfway down the run, broke a trapeze wire and came back in. And that only left yours truly and Poorly Paul to saunter round for the allotted hour and then finish. No swimming included <i class="_4-k1 img sp_fM-mz8spZ1b sx_5371b4" style="background-image: url("/rsrc.php/v2/yx/r/pimRBh7B6ER.png"); background-position: 0px -340px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">smile emoticon</u></i></span></div>
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The morning course (basically a rectangle, beat, 2 beam reaches and a run) would have been great in a F3, but was just hard work in the conditions we had then, and offered no 3-sail reaches at all. Boo!</div>
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Race 2 - B, OL, X, P</div>
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In the afternoon we had a triangle with a kink in it, with a really nice broad reach from B to OL, which was clearly going to be just awesome - unless the wind dropped. Which it did. But it did boast a closer reach from OL to X too, so we still had a good time, and a fetch from X to P which was useless.<br /><br />The assembled boats (now down to 4) managed all this without any incidents, although Peter & Dave took a commanding lead while I was trying to get the (not particularly) fast-pins to come out, and went on to win by miles. We came in 2nd, with Helen & Paul not so far behind us and Bob & Paul not too far behind them.</div>
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Incidentally, I have worked out why the water-level in the lake is still quite low - there's at least 1000 gallons of it goes home in my sailbag every week, bloody drysuit is more of a water accumulation device, everything I own is now soggy.</div>
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Also I ache all over. Aargh!</div>
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Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-57974585356236794352015-11-09T10:05:00.000+00:002015-11-09T10:24:19.415+00:00Tales from the reservoirSunday promised to be interesting, but when we arrived it looked a bit flat. The 6 boats rigged up anyway, and trotted off to the far side of the lake for the start, where it was at least a bit more lively. Course: Orange (near M), H, S, T, D. Stand-in super-crew Richard was time-keeper, so I asked him how long we had to go and he said "15 seconds", so we threw in a quick gybe and (being at the port end of the line), went for a port-tack flyer which neatly crossed most of the fleet and probably looked like we'd planned it. We then carried on to the wall, which looked OK, but we then spotted that the orange mark was a long way from the windward shore and we had gone past the lay-line already. This little faux-pas left us mid fleet, and Peter & Steve promptly zoomed off for a decent lead while we got the through the traffic. Traffic part one was Helen & Paul, who stayed with us for a few laps until Paul went water-skiing with the kite up on the approach to H, shouting summat about "pull the mainsail in". He then rejoined the boat, but the whole flappy mess promptly charged past H on the wrong side and disappeared off towards F, never to be seen again. Traffic part two was Colin & Karen, who regrettably made no mistakes whatsoever and were still ahead of us at the finish. Bob & Paul had an exploded kicker and retired, leaving JT & Quentin to fight it out with a slightly soggy Helen & Paul for 4th and 5th places.<br />
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Ho for race 2 then, and we were still on 22'6" as the wind looked almost non-existent from the shore, whereas it was in fact quite a bit windier than the morning and really wanted 22'4" - a fact we didn't deduce until way too late to do anything about it. At the start we were luffed to what felt like over-the-line by Helen & Paul, but apparently we were OK. We then proceeded to go hard left and overstand the first mark 'Y' from the opposite direction to the AM race, this time pinning Peter & Steve below us so they had to go too. This gave us a little lead at the windward mark, and we chucked the kite up and tore off to S, quick fetch to H and then beat up to T. We were still in the lead, so went high, then bore off to put the kite up for D, whereupon Peter & Steve promptly 2-sailed over our wind and proceeded to sit on it while getting their kite up. Doh! They then sailed off, leaving us chasing them for the rest of the race. An honourable mention goes to John Tenney and Quentin for gaining on us during the latter stages, but we ended up 2nd anyway.<br />
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Back to the bar for a debrief + find out what wisdom Richard had gained from sailing with me. "Don't over-stand the first mark" was all he could think of... But a very nice day's racing, not too cold, not too windy, some chunky gusts and good long courses with sexy 3-sail reaches. Definitely worth getting out of bed for, and many thanks to Richard for manning the front-end of the boat!Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-87345432055578050872015-08-29T19:49:00.000+01:002016-05-05T19:55:03.268+01:00Worlds - Friday<div class="_1dwg" style="padding: 12px 12px 0px;">
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We knew it was going to be windy on Friday, you could hear it in the trees on the campsite. So we went out to the start line with only one item on the agenda: Getting round in one piece. To this end I pulled every bit of depowering string at my disposal, and it still wasn't enough. So although we were going pretty fast upwind, we weren't pointing high enough or indeed going fast enough to get a decent placing.</div>
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It perhaps didn't help that our first tack after the start re<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">vealed a certain deficiency in my garments. On starboard tack, the waves were crashing over me and being shrugged off by the 'December spec' kit I was wearing. On port tack, I noticed a certain chilliness when the first wave hit, and a massive dampness after the second. Could it be that I had not zipped up the lower part of the drysuit? Ah yes, it could. So we parked up and sorted that out while a few more boats went past. Then round the top mark and off down the run, where the pole once again refused to go out without a big fight, which is just what you need while surfing down the backs of waves while doing about 20 knots. We fixed it though, and had some epic moments, including gybing halfway down. Then another struggle up the next beat and onto the triangle bit, with the 3 sail reaches. Only we didn't fly the kite on the first leg as it was too close and too scary. Out at the gybe mark, the trick was to make sure you gybed while surfing down the back of a wave, whilst picking your way through the upturned boats and avoiding the bloke on starboard who was planning to gybe a bit later, ie maybe Tuesday when the wind had dropped. We declared a full 'code brown' for this bit, but remarkably we pulled it off. We then left the kite in the bag for the 2nd reach.</span></div>
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Then one last slow beat, one more run, and a final short leg across to the finish line. We crossed it, congratulated each other, and promptly capsized. It came up well enough, but we decided that enough was enough, so joined the little procession of boats that were heading for the shore. The 2015<span class="highlightNode" style="background-color: rgba(88, 144, 255, 0.14902); border-bottom-color: rgba(88, 144, 255, 0.298039); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; padding: 0px 1px;">Worlds</span> was over.</div>
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And finally, a great pic of me, occluded by Paul of course, but definitely there...</div>
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And more pics here: <a href="http://www.photolounge.co.uk/search/?n=photolounge&scope=node&scopeValue=2MTND&c=photos&q=14778">http://www.photolounge.co.uk/search/?n=photolounge&scope=node&scopeValue=2MTND&c=photos&q=14778</a></div>
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Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-60505814215161659132015-08-27T19:47:00.000+01:002016-05-05T19:54:53.506+01:00Worlds - Thursday<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
The day off on Wednesday was pretty windy, but we spent it wandering around Port Merion, so it didn't matter. More importantly, the forecast for Thursday was also for fairly copious amounts of wind, so we did a bit of de-powering of the boat before we launched. Old jib, smaller kite, but I kept the new mainsail because it seems to like windy weather. I also bought a spanner along and tightened the centreboard bolt that had allowed the board to rise unexpectedly offwind yeste<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">rday. Out at the start-line, there wasn't anything like as much wind as I had expected, so I reversed some of the de-powering, and off we went.</span></div>
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This being a new and slightly weird mainsail, it generally takes me a little while to find the sweet-spot that gets the boat motoring upwind at a decent speed. This time it came good quite early on, and we rounded the windward mark somewhere in the top half of the fleet and took a lot of boats on the following run and next beat. Then came the reaches, which were great fun, although the centreboard started coming up again. Another beat and a final run ensued, and we then decided to drop the kite for the short leg to the finish. At this point we had a minor disaster, with the spinnaker sheet looping over the end of the pole, so we parked up at the bottom mark and sorted it out. This lost us 2 places, and we finished just ahead of Pete in 32nd place (I think).</div>
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The wind, which had been rising through the morning, was now getting a bit fruity. I dropped the rig tension off and dialled in a bit more pre-bend, and tied the centre-board down again. We then went on to make a great start at the pin end, whereupon the entire fleet just sailed away from us. It's generally quite hard to tell how you're doing on the first beat, but this time it was clear that we were almost totally down the toilet. The problem with this, apart from the obvious one, is that you are now sailing around with the more wobbly contingent, who tend to capsize in front of you and generally contrive to slow you down. This was all very painful. Anyway, on the 2nd lap, the spinnaker pole refused to go out and it became us who were slowing everybody else down, so we called it a day and retired. Badders, in contrast, was having a great time in the top 20 boats until another unfortunate spinnaker-pole / clothing incident occurred at the Gybe mark, so he retired too. This only left Colin and Karen to fly the Draycote flag, which they did with no incidents at all (that I know of).</div>
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Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-76382094791504290602015-08-25T19:45:00.000+01:002016-05-05T19:54:39.306+01:00Worlds - Tuesday<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">Y and Y did a nice write-up of today's racing:</span><a href="http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/185210/Gul-Fireball-Worlds-at-Plas-Heli-day-3" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/…/Gul-Fireball-<span class="highlightNode" style="background-color: rgba(88, 144, 255, 0.14902); border-bottom-color: rgba(88, 144, 255, 0.298039); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; padding: 0px 1px;">Worlds</span>-at-P…</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">We had another day of mixed fortunes. We had a decent enough start in the first race, but it was a general recall. We then missed the re-start altogether and crossed the line (at the wrong end) about a minute behind the rest of the fleet. Luckily it was quite windy, so we overtook a lot of boats that were upside down and quite a few that weren't, and ended up just i</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">nside the top half. The centre-board had taken to sliding up on the fast 2 and 3 sail reaches, which is a massively bad idea when you're hurtling down the back of a wave whilst trying not to lose the crew on the lumpy bits. I tied a bit of string to it so it couldn't come all the way up after that.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">For race 2, I sailed doggedly up and down the start-line so the buggers couldn't go without me, and wound up near the (favoured) pin end with about 90 seconds to go, so we parked up and watched the hotshots doing the clever stuff about 3 boat lengths ahead of us. There was no room to get in amongst them, so we hung back and followed them across the line. We were in dirty air but it was pretty windy by this time so there was plenty for everyone. We then charged off to the left hand side of the course, and upon tacking found that we were on the lay line for the windward mark. We must have gone round in the mid 20s, and although we lost a few places to passing hotshots, we also took a few back from people who were as surprised as us to be up there, and some who capsized in the (frankly mental) lumpy water on the reaches and runs.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">We did a lot of excellent surfing down the backs of waves, buried the bow a few times, and Paul came back and sat in my seat on the runs, which made steering a bit tricky at times. The 2 sail reach was very hard work, with the crew unable to get low enough to gain traction without risking being knocked off the boat by the next lump of water. In the first race we spent ages chasing Badders (and never caught him). In this one we didn't see him at all, although he was apparently somewhere in the vicinity until he had an unfortunate spinnaker-pole / buoyancy-aid interface issue leading to some swimming and a massive fall down the results table. We were in a respectable 26th place, which I traded for a 27th rather than play silly buggers with the next place boat on the final leg. A great days sailing, and now a day off to recover.</span>Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7314979259982803842.post-17654963047608652222015-08-22T19:40:00.000+01:002016-05-05T19:54:28.124+01:00Worlds - Arrival<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">Here we all are in sunny Wales, where it has rained solidly on me all throughout setting up the boat. Catching up on the news, Badders has changed his mast due to the old one being dodgy, and Nick & Karen won a prize. Miles Thomas is here, but not Richard B (back problems) or Pete S (too rainy). Tomorrow we're doing the first</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"> </span><span class="highlightNode" style="background-color: rgba(88 , 144 , 255 , 0.14902); border-bottom-color: rgba(88 , 144 , 255 , 0.298039); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px; padding: 0px 1px;">World</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"> Championships races. Yay!</span>Mikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05448170572344132712noreply@blogger.com0