Date: 10th March
Venue : TISC
Race : 50 minute handicap
Tide : 30 mins
after the start
Conditions : ENE f4-5, well defined chop
Result : 3rd of 11 boats
Better race today. I've been on antibiotics for the past few days, and wondered whether sailing was a good idea or not - turns out it was, I put it down to the rejuvenating sea air.
Positives:
- Good downwind start, second off the line, overhauled Bryan quite quickly and settled into clear wind for the full leg.
- Good downwind legs. In particular:
- 150m of full on planing by-the-lee between Rockwood and Sandhead.
- A near capsize to leeward saved by some strong rudder to head up. Lost 10 seconds as a result (it takes time to get back up to speed and head down again) but better than 2 minutes on a capsize.
- No dramas on the leg from Snowhill to Stocker. First time thats happened for a while.
- Reasonable speed upwind, although I have to say that I was a little jaded and couldn't give it 100%.
- I replaced the toestraps on the boat yesterday, and one of the vang cleats. Having perfectly orientated toestraps makes a huge difference, you can bang weight out on the new tack without faffing round looking for straps.
Points for reflection:
- One dodgy moment running. I defaulted back to the steer-it-under-the-mast technique when heeled to leeward, and shoved the whole of the front of the boat under the water. Far better would have been to accept a 10 second penalty and head up.
- Not a great gybe at Snowhill
All in all a good race. I don't expect to beat ISOs and 400s in those conditions, so pleased with the results, love of sailing moves up to 6.5/10. No more Chillers for me, the 300 Winter Championships are on the 23/24 March, I shall be dipping a toe in the waters of class racing.
There was talk of personalised handicaps at the club today, if I get time in the week I plan to develop some and publish here, based on the H&H and Chiller series. So check back in if you are interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment