2nd to Last Friday, I think
Friday night looked to be a non-event as we started pushing boats to the hoist. The wind was out of the east. Yes, the east. It was dead or dying quickly. Eventually everyone seemed to pony up and get the boats in the water to find an afternoon northerly filling in. Yes, we were in Newport. I don't get it either. We had a nice light beat to the committee boat and the wind filled in for some on again, off again trap strength wind. Nice night, actually.
The first race went off pretty well. We hugged the starboard end of the line and got off a little down speed. I seem to have developed this habit of approaching the line too early and having to luff till the last moment. It started in Kingston and I have not been able to stop it. Anyway, we liked the right with more pressure and positive current and were happy where we were. Shortly after the start we were pinched off by Ross who had learned how to point again after a week. This was fine, we wanted the right and we managed to tack onto Oakley and Kevin in the process. Approaching the windward mark Ross was coming in on port and did not have the edge we were assuming he would. This ended in us head to wind, or a little past while Ross tacked upon realising he was not going to make it. We protested and he spun circles, situation over. We rounded the mark in first but gave away that lead when Kevin and Oakley gybed first on a nice layline. We realised the situation too late and they were too far away for us to attack before the leeward mark. On the beat to the finish we threw a loose cover on Ross which was a mistake as he pinched us right off again and manged to get between us and Kevin. Annoying little race, really. After us was Tom Welsh. US Blues with Alex and Jared did not start that one.
The second race started a little better except for we were, again, luffing at the line with no speed. We hugged the starboard end well enough to be right in Ross's face after the gun and pinched them off this time. That made me feel better. Eventually, Kevin and Oakley tacked onto port allowing us to cover and head to the favored right side. After rounding in first we waited a little bit and gybed as Kevin and Oakley rounded with a gybe set. This race was a leeward finish and we were able to go straight in on that angle with Ross finishing second, Kevin and Oakley in third, US Blues in fourth and Tom Welsh in fifth. It was good to see the Blues mixing it up in the beat, crossing Kevin on port.
The end result being a three-way tie for the night between us, Ross and Kevin and Oakley, all with four points. We managed to win on the second tie-breaker. After the boats were out there was talk about when the last night was, should we lengthen the series, and all that while the sun was setting in the 7 hour instead of after eight or nine. I think summer is coming to a close and this has been confirmed by waking up this morning to find the baseboard heaters warm. If I am right the last night is next Friday. As Oakley posted earlier it is going to be a nail-biter to the finish and the eventual winner of the fleet championship could be decided next week. It has been a good season with some friendly new faces who should be around for years to come. More apparently are coming.
Okay, that's it. See you all next Friday.
The first race went off pretty well. We hugged the starboard end of the line and got off a little down speed. I seem to have developed this habit of approaching the line too early and having to luff till the last moment. It started in Kingston and I have not been able to stop it. Anyway, we liked the right with more pressure and positive current and were happy where we were. Shortly after the start we were pinched off by Ross who had learned how to point again after a week. This was fine, we wanted the right and we managed to tack onto Oakley and Kevin in the process. Approaching the windward mark Ross was coming in on port and did not have the edge we were assuming he would. This ended in us head to wind, or a little past while Ross tacked upon realising he was not going to make it. We protested and he spun circles, situation over. We rounded the mark in first but gave away that lead when Kevin and Oakley gybed first on a nice layline. We realised the situation too late and they were too far away for us to attack before the leeward mark. On the beat to the finish we threw a loose cover on Ross which was a mistake as he pinched us right off again and manged to get between us and Kevin. Annoying little race, really. After us was Tom Welsh. US Blues with Alex and Jared did not start that one.
The second race started a little better except for we were, again, luffing at the line with no speed. We hugged the starboard end well enough to be right in Ross's face after the gun and pinched them off this time. That made me feel better. Eventually, Kevin and Oakley tacked onto port allowing us to cover and head to the favored right side. After rounding in first we waited a little bit and gybed as Kevin and Oakley rounded with a gybe set. This race was a leeward finish and we were able to go straight in on that angle with Ross finishing second, Kevin and Oakley in third, US Blues in fourth and Tom Welsh in fifth. It was good to see the Blues mixing it up in the beat, crossing Kevin on port.
The end result being a three-way tie for the night between us, Ross and Kevin and Oakley, all with four points. We managed to win on the second tie-breaker. After the boats were out there was talk about when the last night was, should we lengthen the series, and all that while the sun was setting in the 7 hour instead of after eight or nine. I think summer is coming to a close and this has been confirmed by waking up this morning to find the baseboard heaters warm. If I am right the last night is next Friday. As Oakley posted earlier it is going to be a nail-biter to the finish and the eventual winner of the fleet championship could be decided next week. It has been a good season with some friendly new faces who should be around for years to come. More apparently are coming.
Okay, that's it. See you all next Friday.
posted by Anonymous at 3:38 PM
1 Comments:
I have a rules question to ask. Is a protest flag correctly displayed if it is in the skipper's mouth? If I only had a camera....
Oakley
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