scott.projectsomewhere

I think you need to have a well developed sense of humour to sail these Moths.

I certainly needed it yesterday.

I did a half day in the office so that I could join in with Rohan, Rob and Nathan in their Bladerider training session. A perfect 10-15 knot warm North Easter was blowing over an empty harbour. Ideal conditions. As I drove around the waterfront and saw the sun and the breeze, I thought to myself “work is great because it makes the rare time off feel so much better”. Yes, something like that.

I got 45 minutes in, doing a couple of runs upwind and a long downwind. On the upwinds I was pretty erratic, still trying to get to grips with how different the boat feels. 1 or 2 of them I was behind, a couple I was even, and 1 of them I was ahead.

Downwind I was higher and slower, shades of the limping crab. But given it was the windiest the boat had been out in it was a bit of a softly softly approach.

Anyway, when I sheeted on in the lineup to head upwind for the second time. It all went pear shaped. The rig came down on top of me. I thought it was a shroud that let go, but unfortunately when I came up I noticed it was the mast post – missing in action.

Thankfully Rohan flew in and got a rubber duck to come and get me, and the guys waited around and helped pull the boat apart in the water. Lucky I wasn’t out by myself and it wasn’t too cold.

I will have a replacement to get me on the water next weekend, and the next boats will get an upgraded part. I couldn’t help but think of that de-motivating quote as I floated around… “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”

I have a never ending list of boatwork to get through in the meantime.

So it’s a week later, and it’s taken me almost that long to put out the fires that started with our failure to get a 5 race regatta off in 3 days. Such is life.

So to dredge it all up again, let’s go back and have a look at the weekend that was…

Friday was a beautifully warm and sunny day, at times. Everyone seemed keen to get out there and have a go, but the wind didn’t want to cooperate… surprise surprise.

We postponed on shore for a bit, then the 12s looked like they were moving out in the harbour, and Ian Sim had made it around from Balmoral in his scow. There must’ve been wind out there somewhere.

So the postponement came down and we headed out to the start. The first bunch made it through Rose Bay and onto the course area with no dramas. I pumped and rocked my way out there after them, but the rest of the fleet sat becalmed in the bay, for over an hour.

The RO decided to start anyway, not wanting to upset the boats that were sitting around waiting for the start for a long time. I was making my way down the course with Nathan & Ayden after doing a lap when the preparatory signal went up.

By the time I got to the line, I was 3 odd minutes late, and the 10 or so boats that had started on time were a couple of hundred metres away.

At the top mark, I’d passed a couple, and by the bottom mark, I was sitting in 4th behind Peter Harney in his low rider, Phil and Dave Lister.

But by this stage the race had been abandoned. Some of the late boats in Rose Bay had been towed out to the line and started, others were minutes later and not happy. The race would’ve likely been protested if it went ahead, and the abandonment was anyway.

By now it was past 4pm and the prospect of another start was a little grim, so racing was canceled for the day.

On the way in a couple of boats managed to fly with a little kinetic assistance, and Amac had a few people out for some short bursts of airtime on the prototype Mach2.

(more…)

With not enough wind turning up, and the unlikely prospect of pulling off enough races in the time limit, the States were abandoned.

I don’t think that has happened in a long time, but there is not a great deal we could do about it.

So we’ve managed to get 2 races in the last 3 days, and we’re postponed again with no wind.

Given the amount of cloud cover, and the fact that we need another 3 races in the next couple of hours to get a series, things are not looking good.

After 2 races, Pete Harney leads on his lowriding Hungry Tiger, with me 1 point behind, and Nathan another 3 back.

There was no wind on day 1 of the Moth States. We tried to race after a long postponement, but most of the fleet missed the start after stopping in Rose Bay.

One lap later, the race was abandoned and we headed back to shore.

Day 2 unfortunately looks worse, with another postponement and less wind. We will be waiting til about 3pm to try to race, then will look at getting 5 races in tommorrow.

Not much to do.