Tuesday, August 08, 2006

NWN week part 3

Day 4 of the event was an evening race at Brancaster Staith in a good F4-5. We got out to the start area to find a very strong tide against a good F5 breeze making it very lumpy.
It was quite a while before the committee boat sorted the course and with all the boats crashing about at great speed in really choppy water in a restricted area with shallows, it was quite a hairy time. Eventually we started but again it was a poor start and I was in fourth place at the windward mark. Two legs later and I was right on the tale of the third boat as we went round the mark and he hit it with his windward quarter and had to do do a 360.
It was a long beat back and I chose the right line and soon picked up another place. On the next leg I mananged to get into the lead but held my tack too long and realised too late that I was passing the wrong side of a mark and had to reach back against the tide to it giving away 3 places in the process! The first two boats were to far ahead to catch but I did mange to claw back one place to finish 3rd. I could kick myself sometimes.

No comments: