Tuesday nights: Race 8 [Posted by Steve on Thu 26th May 05]

We got down to the club to find there was a postponement as the wind was up around the 30kt mark. After 30mins the wind had dropped to 25kts, so we went out to race. We were out there to win (as always!), but especially as to take the series we needed to be 1st and have Kudos 4th.

With full main and number 3 up we started and popped the kite as we crossed the line. We were the only boat on the line and we were off flying down wind doing 8+ kts. We were well in the lead as we rounded 60 buoy, though disaster struck as the snap shackle on the spinnaker halyard popped open and the kite fell down. (pants, and all the other swear words!)

With the halyard stuck at the top of the mast we dragged the kite back onboard and hoisted the jib, though lots of people were catching us fast. Panache sailed past us and so did Kudos... without the kite we could not hold on to them.

With some short legs near Brownsea we were going to be out of luck, as we had to drop the jib and then get the kite up, sail for a short time, before dropping the kite and re-hoisting the jib again on our one remaining halyard. This is very slow and all the time Kudos was sailing away and the others were catching.

We finished 4th knowing we had tried our best, although we are still very frustrated at being let down by one little snap shackle! Our only consolation is that we handled the situation very well, and also the crew work again was the best out there by far.

Despite this being the first series we've entered and not won, the Uproar crew are delighted to take 2nd overall in the Early Tuesday series. We've come up against some very competent crews, and are competing against larger and faster boats in IRC1, rather than the usual IRC2. We'll have them in the next series... which starts next Tuesday.

Also, this bank holiday weekend is the Parkstone YC Regatta, where we'll be trying to repeat our performance at the PYRA Spring Regatta last bank holiday, by winning IRC2.

Well done to all the crew who have sailed with us -- you've done an excellent job!

Cheers,

Steve & Kate

 

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