Practice Race

Sunday saw the practice race onto the course and in a reasonably stiff breeze it was good to get sailing at last. Due to the large fleet there was an extended start line with a committe boat in the middle of the line. We chose the starboard end due to a big bias as did many other boats. With 92 boats all vying for the same area it was absolutely manic! After all the preparations and everyone was so keen to get going there were two general recalls. Our second start was better than the first and then the third start even better. The boat struggled to point up with speed but we set off up the track. There must have been a third recall as around half the fleet stopped racing and the rest of us carried on. We met the fleet that started for the fourth time as we came downwind to the gate on our first run. Lot's of boat dodging and shouting going on! We did the second roundig of the course which was simple windward leeward and finished not quite knowing where we were placed. Anyway it was good practice and we then spent some time tuning the rig and upping the settings to give us more power. The sea state was very choppy which was slowing the boat down. We also dropped the jib tack down to give more closure for the foot to the deck. All this seemed to help and once Tim was happy we put back into port. Today (Monday) is the start of the regatta with two races being carded, so a much better test today. More updates to follow.