First hit-out
Yesterday saw an easy, nice, warm, moderate Nor-Easter for the opening race of the 2007/08 18 Footer Season.
There were plenty of new faces in the boatpark, plenty of the usual trash-talk, and plenty of enthusiasm to get on the water early.
The good thing for us was that our boat was parked in one of the ramps down to the water, so while we took our good time getting sorted, everyone parked up behind us waited… and waited some more. Pays to get the boat in position early.
The three-bouys handicap was in action again, with the handicapper putting the 7 guys on the 2nd mark for some unknown reason. They started well but we bounced them late on the first leg, then crossed as we headed on up to the furthest top mark. We rounded that mark in the lead, just ahead of Cocko on Fiat. So not a bad first work for the first race of the season. At least we’re not overly slow at this point.
Anyway, the race progressed from there, with the handicapped boats rounding ahead over the 3-lap course. We crossed the line about 7th, and 2nd on scratch behind Fiat.
Not too bad.
The new Van-Munster built Kinder Caring raced well out of the blocks, unsurprisingly quick given Van-Munster built it for himself. Unfortunately they clipped a yacht and blew the rig out of the boat. Smeg also lost their mast above the hounds when the top-spreader broke, but they completed the course with the rest of the mast in the air and the main jury-rigged half-up.
Macquarie’s new black boat was turning heads with it’s painted black sails. It looked good, but didn’t go too quick early when they’re rigged the #2 spinnaker on the #1 mast (after also trying to put the #2 main on during rigging).
Fiat also sported their stiffened mast, with an extra 200mm or so less luff round in the head - making for an even bigger roach. As the breeze built the top couple of battens just flicked in and out like a Moth rig - sort of. They were quick, but not setting the World on fire at this point. Maybe the season-old-hull re-spray wasn’t quite enough. There’s probably plenty more in the extra-budget to blow on upgrades before the season is out.
None of the team North guys pulled out their new Southern Rigs, I can only guess they’re keeping them under-cover for as long as possible.
So all in all an easy day on the water. No real surprises. Maybe late October can bring out some fun days like last year to keep the newcomers on their toes.
