New series

New series; new crew combo. So new that the RC hadn't sorted out the SI's. Fleming came over and announced, just as we were about to drop the boat into the water: "You realize there is no RC!". Charles couldn't make the fall series's earlier start time, and Janet was off on a Croatian cruise. The replacements were John, who would handle sheets; and Nick, who would do foredeck. The early start was almost too much for Emi and David. They arrived at 17:31, just in time for the RC to have sorted things out.

I definitely wanted to do a few practise gybes/tacks before the start. The wind was from the east, so the waves had had a chance to build. The east wind was a good direction for a downwind run to the start. The hoist did not go perfectly and the gybes were a bit rough; but at least we had a bit of experience for the new crew.

There were two starts; all white sail would be in the first start, and all FS would be second start. I found it difficult to maneuver in the very mixed fleet. Our start was horrible; I wanted to get into clear air, so we tacked. I had to duck a late starter. Late to the start line; bad air; having to go back to duck , note to self: "what not to do"! The fleet headed north-east towards the island; while we were headed south, out into the lake and the chop. Even clear air had its down side. However, by the time we headed back to the fleet, it seemed that we had gained. Clear air has its upside too.

Being more south of the shelter of the island we encountered the worst of the chop. The motor almost came off; an unnecessary distraction for the skipper. I resolved to take the motor off and store it below - next time. We crested one particularly big wave and the boat was half out of the water. I had headed up and we were in danger of tacking. There were some anxious moments but no real problem.

We had a good hoist. The downwind leg went without incident. We approached the leeward mark on port. When we were more or less directly downwind, we gybed. Now on starboard we took the chute down. Right at the leeward mark we gybed back onto port. It was a bit slow but we had everything well sorted for the next hoist.

We were well behind Flawed; I decided to go separate routes. This payed off. At the windward mark we were clear ahead. When all else fails I am willing to trust luck and this time I was lucky. Unfortunately our set wasn't great and we ended going too far on starboard. When we got sorted, our angle was too much on a downwind run compared to Flawed. Flawed was able to sail on a hotter angle and they were well ahead of us at the finish. They were third, we were fourth.

This was the first outing for this particular crew combination. We had a horrible start but the fact that we were able to catch up, made for an exciting race. A good first race for the new fall series.