A different Kettle of Fish

Well Sunday's racing turned out to be a different kettle of fish altogether! We had a good force 4 blowing from the north with occasional light rain and a good sea which made for some very exciting sailing.
Only two of us braved the cold and the wind (William and myself), I guess for some the thought of a capsize was offputting. We agreed the course and decided on one lap and then maybe do another race if all was well.
Launching in the waves was hard work but sailing off the beach was just a reach so not too bad, it can be hard work when the wind is on-shore (westerly).
I was the pathfinder and we were soon off to a quick start beating up to the 'A' mark close to the shore. William pulled ahead to start with, I tacked too soon after he started and so ended up in his backwind which was compounded by my centre plate not being fully down. I tacked away towards the shore to clear my air but when we tacked back William was still ahead by two boat lengths but by the time we cross tacks again I was ahead by two boat lengths and rounded the windward mark first.
The reach was a bit of a disappointment, I was expecting a fast planing ride, which it wasn't. There were moments of catching a wave and planing but it seemed marginal and William, who is always quick off the wind, sneaked past me to leward and beat me to the gybe mark.
We both gybed well and then took off!, the wind was just a bit more of a beam reach and combined with the waves made for a fast planing ride! It was possible to catch one wave after another, constantly planing! It was fantastic. We were going so fast the the centreplate kept on riding up (even more adjustment to the friction block needed!) and I would lose stearage and the side slip would cause us to suddenly heal to windward. William pulled further ahead to win the race by several boat lengths. I think that sorting the centre plate out will help but I need to increase my offwind boat speed. Maybe sail trim, perhapps I need to let off more kicker.

We were just lining up to do the second race, I was making my run to the leward mark, when William signalled to abort; his main was coming down and he was heading for the shore and so we abandoned the race and went in.
So it was a short but exciting sail and worth the effort. At the moment I am leading the April series ahead of william by 2 points with only two races left. It could be a good result!
No Pictures unfortunately, I was a bit busy at the time but here are a couple of pictures of some racing from last year When we hosted the Area Championships. The first days racing was in a good force 5-6 and only 7 boats out of the 22 entered took to the water, only one of them managed to stay upright and only three finished the race! It gives some idea of what it can be like at Snett.