Inshore Race 5 - 18July 09

Wind. what do we do now? At last we had some decent wind. Forecast was for 25-30kt NW increasing to a front later in the evening. The wind on the start was 18-20knots NW so we went full main and No.3 heady. Out on the water an hour before the start as we had only raced this boat once before at these wind strengths, and severe lack of wind over recent races meant we were somewhat rusty in these conditions. Course 9 : NW, We pinged the line so we were able to read the start quite well and nailed it. Hit it at almost full speed at the boat end with a couple of seconds to spare. We stayed out to the left with X factor underneath us dropping below and over onto port searching for clear air. We decided to stay out to the left with OP down and to to the rear we could do some serious match racing enabling us both to learn a better sail set up. We were lower and faster learning how Charlotte handles in a bit of chop (this is new for us). Everyone was geared up expecting it to get very wet but apart from a bit of spray we stayed surprising dry, apart from those up front, in frontier land but then they always get wet (because they can). Trim trim trim and the speed was gradually building, OP much higher so we had a retune of the main to try to find the groove. On the lay line and over to port ...bloody hell theres the mark 200 m away. The boat moves very fast in a bit of wind. The angles look to shy in these conditions so we opted not to fly the kite and were happily reaching at 15 knots. OP behind went for their kite but were being hindered by Syrenka from sailing their optimum angle and had trouble carrying it. Around Lygnern "kite up" and set. Down to F mark, pretty good drop with Bill deciding to drag the kite down in a rather unique way....by falling in hatchway with it. Luckily a nice soft landing but neary collected poor Trev who was already down there. Navs instruments went crazy (murphys law again, instruments never work when you most need them). Looking a the tablet but then noticed nothing moving and no instruments showing. Dived downstairs to reboot the main display but back in seconds "TACK" we nearly found Charlotte's bank again and the depth showing 3.4 m shortly after. A 40 knot squall hit us with the full main flapping in the breeze but the boat handling it quite well. The Tablet put away , can no longer trust it, reboot of the PC " Is that the mark , the call coming from upstairs" Oh crap are we there already says the nav "Yes" Some mild expletives coming from upstairs and downstairs. Wind is shifting, Can we carry a kite?, whats the angle?, whats the wind strength?, Crap Crap Crap.. We will have to wait and see still running blind, "go that way" (technical jargon for have no bloody idea). Around the top mark and settle everything skipper calling for an angle, the nav still trying to get everything working again after the reboot, skippe losing his cool and briefly sacking the tactician. No kite was the call. OP behind us opted for the Kite and went way off course to leeward, too shy in this wind strength but they had to try something, and probably had a great ride, they were fairly moving. Nav thinking..... now have we done one lap or two? as the PC has lost all history and doesn't know where we are. Do we go to E mark or F after Lygnern? When all else fails. Consult the manual, checking the course "E mark then finsh" the call from nav. Ummnn suppose its too late to call a bear away set as we round Lygnern... Kite up and away. Nav calls "at the bottom mark in 3 minutes" and the eyes of the skipper widen somewhat. . "Oh and dont forget its E mark, you know the shallow one that was removed from course 6 because its too shallow. Oh and we have a lwer tide today. We cannot go past it, and will have to tack on it to get into deeper water but we are likely to touch ". The skippers eyes widen alot more. We have to gybe, get the headsail back up and the kite down and away and tack on a 49 foot boat in 3 minutes in a strengthening wind. But somehow we did it. We hit the bottom at E mark (not surprisingly- 2.7 m plus 0.6 tide gives 3.3m, and we draw 3.6m hardly rocket science) but our strategy payed off, and it didn't slow us down but we were NOT happy at all about this mark being in the course. This is not good for the boat. The club is forcing us to seriously consider retiring from future races with E mark on the course or knowingly hit the bottom. We cannot understand why the club removed the mark from only one course!! (There were some informal discussions after the race and I am told this issue is due for discussion at the meeting during the week. If we can move the mark even 50 metres North would greatly assist, 100m would solve the problem. ) Race time 66minutes. Didn't see much else out on the course Someone said there were other boats out there , as a matter of fact someone said things were happening on our foredeck but I didn't see much , it was all a little too busy. First and Fastest IRC 1. Great race guys.... apart from the abuse results http://www.fsc.com.au/2/281/1/_inshore_winter_series_results.pm

Real score 6 all with OP

Nav out.