OK, THIS is the official report on last Wednesday's race.
The previous report was certainly colourful enough but was certainly a " before the mast" point of view, even allowing it came from someone well behind the mast. Maybe a little too much focus on Circe crew wardrobe selection, hugging, and food opportunities. And certainly the Skipper's insufficient nutmegs did not need to be broadcast to the world. Now let's talk about the race. We had a full crew + for the race with Pam and Steve sorting out the new self-tailing winches, Susan on main sheet, and Audrey, Kathleen, and Nansi on foredeck. Under the evening's conditions it was very good to have that extra pair of hands up there. The jib selection was an even more difficult call than normal. The breeze picked up substantially in the late afternoon gusting Ito the 20's before we left the dock. We didn't actually leave the dock until about 5:45 after Kathleen's Wizard of Oz bicycle sprint from the 5:30 ferry. But we left with all jibs still stowed below intending to leave the decision as late as possible. The wind speed was oscillating from 20 knot plus gusts to 8 knot lulls and difficult to tell if the breeze was dying or building. Having done with #2 in two races this series and regretting it, the Skipper decided to ignore the hesitations of the people that actually had to crank it in and go with the #1 risking being over powered in the gusts but anticipating the wind dropping. To the apparent shock and surprise of the crew it worked out well but mainly due to superlative crew work by the grinders up wind and the foredeck crew downwind.
The course was 3x around windward leeward. This lead to lots of upwind boats sailing through down wind boats. Very hairy at times. Best not to be too demanding of your right of way and just concentrate on not cutting someone in half. As mentioned in the other report, Circe was being more aggressive at the start but got there a few seconds early just above Veloche who decided to take us up over the line with the result that we were both over early. But we both turned back quickly and were back in the race. We passed Inatram on the windward leg and caught Ascend (which was being sailed by a bunch of Star sailers who thought better of Star sailing this day) near the weather mark and were just behind Veloche all the way around. Which turned out to be a good place to be. Because there was one serious collision at the leeward mark second time around in front of us with a tight group of boats trying to round together, where Veloche T-boned Alpha Omega. Not much damage to the pointy end of Veloche but a significant hole punched into the side of AO. Remember there was still lots of wind so the boats have some speed. But no one injured. Veloche did her 720 which allowed us to get past and stay well ahead, but Alpha Omega dropped out and went in. We sailed the rest of the race too close much of the time to the overly aggressively sailed Long Bow but were not able to pass her but had to avoid sailing through her at the weather mark a couple of times. In the end we finished 2nd to Blue Streak, with Veloche 3rd, Abra 4th, Ascend 5th, and Inatram 6th.
So that was our second second in the series, both with Steve on board. If we go with the full series there should be 2 drop races so we should be able to drop our two 4th place finishes and hopefully replace them with equally good results for the rest of the series. So as already said, it was a GREAT race night, de bess indeed. And a special thanks to Steve for making the drive from Coburg to do the race. That too was de bess. And Circe crew was de bess; bruises, scrapes, wounds, and all.
So who's coming back for more punishment next week?
Skipper Ron