We won the jug!! And the Race!!

CREW - Kathleen, Pam - Foredeck

          - Mike, Steve - winches

          - Susan - main

          - Skipper Ron - tiller and little required motivation            

WIND - Very light

SAIL SELECTION -A major thunder storm and downpour occurred 2 hours before the race and left a dead calm behind. Went out with the light #1 bagged on deck to tempt more wind to arrive but despite a little tease of an increase before the start it did not materialize. We went with the light #1; a good call.

COURSE - EWN buoys to starboard (did I get it right this time Sus?) triangle with start near Red Path plant and weather mark toward eastern gap . 3X around.

RACE - Blue Streak was a no show. Must be on holiday. Competition was Abracadabra, Veloche, and Alpha Omega. The wind shifted to the south west just before the start making the pin end of the line strongly favoured and the first mark reachable on one tack. With 8 minutes to go and about a hundred feet away we went for the line at about 1.5 knots and were mixed in with boats from the start before. We got to the pin end early but didn't feel we had time to do anything except run the line. We laid off across Veloche's bow and reached down the line still at 1.5 knots leaving the crowd at the pin. We hardened on at the gun and had clear air well to leeward of the fleet but still able to sail above the mark. Then we started to pull away. Something we managed to do for the rest of the race.

We laid the first mark easily without tacking just ahead of Abra and well ahead of Alpha and Veloche. We carried on past the mark about 5 boat lengths before tacking on to port and had a close fetch to the west mark toward the airport. Abra rounded tight to the mark and was below us but within 10 or 12 boat lengths of the mark had concerns about laying it and tacked. That was the last we saw of her. We were able to hang on and make it. The wind was getting even lighter. We were hoping Graham would shorten to once around. But alas not and we ghosted past the committee boat who seemed perfectly satisfied to let us all rot out there and started our second lap.

But we still kept pulling away from our competition and passing boats in divisions ahead of us until by the time we got to the second mark again we were the first keel boat in the entire fleet with only an RS400 still ahead of us (Trevor, was that you?). And that's how we finished when Graham finally took pity and ended it at 2X around. I have not yet checked the elapsed time but I suspect we were at least 10 minutes ahead of the next boat in our division, Abracadabra.

RESULTS - We finished first in our division and must have done well on everyone out there. Abra was 2nd, Alpha third and Veloche 4th. But even more enjoyable, we also won the jug!!!

It was a great race. Well done Circe Crew!

Roll Call for next race - Sorry crew. Circe is off sailing for the next two weeks so no races until August 20 (boy that sounds like a long way away!!). See you again then.

Skipper Ron