As expected the front came through this morning. The rain had stopped and the wind was westerly pretty solidly 10-15 knots when we went out.
We were fast upwind in this stuff. We were the heaviest crew and that became an advantage. We sailed three short races and went in for lunch. Lots of close racing, and decent 2-3-3 finishes.
At this point we were in third place overall by a very small margin with 11 races in. Not too shabby.
As we were on shore the wind shifted towards the northwest and started to pipe up. The RC reset the course and we went at it again.
One of the other heavier crews that had struggled on Saturday was now in the front row, and the some of the lighter crews were having trouble. In the next race we had some exciting sailing. Sarah and I agreed going into the race that our main goal was to get around the course cleanly, not break anything, and sail conservatively. We rounded the last windward mark in third place, well ahead of our competition for series third. Big puffs rolling through. Ahead of us one of the top crews capsized. That should have been a warning. But we were now in a race for second place with another boat that had rounded on our stern and was now on our beam. We were broad reaching with our jibs to leeward. Our downwind speed wasn’t as impressive as our upwind speed.
We hit a bit of a lull, and decided to pole out the jib to windward. That’s the fast way to sail a Snipe in pretty much all conditions. Then another puff rolled down on us, and we lost control and capsized to windward. Watched the rest of the fleet sail by, then righted the boat (twice!) and finished the race. At that point the racing ended and we finished fourth overall.
I’m suffering a myriad of muscle soreness and cramping, but can’t think of a more fun sailing event I’ve done recently. Neither of us have spent much time in two-person boats, and it’s been fun to figure some of that out. The boat, the venue, and the level of competition is just right for me, and it was fun sailing with Sarah. We both felt the marked improvement in communication and teamwork over the two weekends.
Thanks to Julian Inglis for your dedication to the class, and congratulations on getting your name on the trophy!
Sorry no pics. If I come across any I’ll add them here.
Edit Sept 14: Julian has some boat can footage of Sunday morning. See https://youtu.be/gjEpBiWsFUI
I don’t know where we were in this. Must have been ahead!
Boating Adventures 