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Sigma 38 Championships: Inshore |
With 3 boats scratching just before the event this could have
been a damp squib – but in the end it was by far the best racing we have yet
had in Festina. The short legs , wind
shifts and intensity of the racing meant that it was difficult to follow what was happening on the other side of the
course , so I look forward to everyone else’s accounts.
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The practice race set the tone with a dog
fight for the inside berth all the way down the run. The Project luffed hard and we broached out, both
gybed and this time it was the Projects turn to do the handbrake turn . One win – but not to
count. Race 2 went much the same way
except Light spoiled our fun by racing past whilst we fought it out down the run, and
sailed on for a well deserved win.
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Unaccountably the finish line was set in
exactly 2 metres of water , so that when we bore off
round the finish mark we hit its ground tackle hard enough to injure half the
crew and take a bite out of the keel, and Beefeater went hard aground on the
sand. It was the only blight on an
otherwise well run regatta and for the
second year running we felt nearly as
flat as the leading edge of our keel!
But not for long as Sundays racing was just
as tight. With 12-15 knots , this was
full rig weather and the day went to the Project with 3 wins . We threw everything at them , but
they matched us tack for tack and gybe for gybe and generally made impressively
few mistakes.
Monday dawned bright and breezy and the offshore wind brought huge shifts and gusts. The first
run was fairly hard core sailing - side by side with the Project at 10 knots with both boats dropping and
gybing round the leeward mark together in 25 knots of wind in impressively good
order. The crew spotted another boat to
block their cover , and for the first
time in two days we got a shift and hung
on to the lead.
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Between races a 30 knot squall came through
that we were all glad to have missed , then we swung into the last race . The
Project came and match raced us in the pre-start – aided inadvertently by Light who blocked our escape. However she made amends by rocketing up
the beat and the Project covered her – allowing us to take a couple of juicy
shifts and get right back. At the top of the second beat the Project attempted a slam dunk but we luffed her past
the mark , bore off and broke the overlap , squeezed round inside Light and
into the lead . All we had to do was hold
these positions and the weekend was ours.
Down the broad reach the spi pole uphaul
came undone , and in the ensuing panic Light sailed through our lee and squeezed round the last mark ahead of us . We
had to beat the Project by two places so
covering her wasn’t good enough , so we tacked off in search of a shift. At
first it looked as if we had it , but the others held their nerve and waited
for the wind to swing back before crossing. Light was ahead – and the Project looked good but just failed to
cross, taking a big dip below our
transom . We tacked on the layline for the finish and
hiked like crazy . Slowly , ever so
slowly we inched over her and crossed just ahead with equal points , but less
wins . Light with her two fine wins was only 2 points adrift.
Well done Andy and crew , well
deserved winners of a fine weekends
sailing.
For some action shots of the weekend, click on photo gallery or here.
The offshore leg - Cowes-Fecamp - click here!
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