Poole Regatta - not bad for pond sailers!

This was the third time that 13941 had gone to Poole, and I think it was the most enjoyable yet. 

It was also the first time for Hannah, who was suitably impressed by the size of the clubhouse, the size of the sailing area ... In fact everything was so much bigger than we have at the "pond" (Welsh Harp Sailing Club). The fleet of 30 GP14 was impressive as well.  

The first day was the traditional "round the islands" race inside the harbour. The first race was anti-clockwise. We made a cautious start, and were 2/3 down the fleet by the time we arrived at "Picadilly" in a broad reach. After having navigated the shallows, it was time to throw the kite and we were soon speeding up - just a couple of "planes" at times. 

I think this was the longest spinnaker run that Hannah has ever done. 

Around the far side of the island we noticed a couple of boats going a back to pass "Brownsea" marker. Should we have done the same? Hannah had been very thorough during the pre-race briefing, so we were fairly convinced that we had got things right.  As it happened, this was the second cause of confusion for people that morning. 

Not only had some people decided to round the "Brownsea" marker, others had been logged as "OCS" (on course side = on the wrong side of the start line when the starting gun was fired) and were therefore  penalised. There had been some ambiguity in what constituted the actual start line, as well as confusion about whether we had to round the "Brownsea" marker. A cynic might say that Poole allowed the confusion in order to help their own people to win, but I will not comment on that...

On paper, our final result was 18th - not bad for pond sailers !!

The afternoon was a classic case of "you are not at the Harp now.."; we were given plenty of time to get to the starting line for the clockwise race, but were less than urgent in getting out. Unfortunately, this was a slipway at Poole, not a massively long pontoon at the Harp. So we had to queue. The net result was that we were five minutes late at the start - hopelessly out of contention. Nevertheless, we pressed on and completed the course, with one other boat (who had been even later starting) trying and failing to catch us. Pity about the result, but a great sail. 

Sunday saw the winds pick up slightly, and we were both feeling a bit cautious, but set out for three "triangle - sausage - triangle" races over the late morning and early afternoon (note to self : make sure you pack some energy bars next time!).

The first race was a reasonable start for us - we called "starboard" on a number of boats, then tacked off to the right of the course. The tactical reasoning was straightforward - there was probably little significant tide impact, and it looked like the people going right seemed to know what they were doing!

Although we had reasonably clear air, and Hannah did a great job of keeping the boat flat, we were near the back of the fleet by the windward Mark. It was looking like a problem of getting good boat speed - so that is my "learning objective" for the next few weeks. 

The same pattern emerged in the other two races, with us coming in last each time. So some improvement needed on getting speed out of the boat. 

Going downwind, the waves were just choppy enough to play with. I had read about how to "manage waves" down-wind: find a suitable wave, then steer onto the leeward side and ride the "push" as long as possible. We don't get conditions like that at the Harp. So it was another chance for this "pond sailer" to have some practice playing with the wave conditions. It takes practice, but we caught a few...

The last race we decided to play it safe, and did not fly the kite. But more wave playing followed!

So the Sunday result was nothing to write home about. But it was immensely enjoyable. I think (hope !) I've learnt a lot, and that experience will eventually pay off. 

Both of us had sunburn to deal with the next day - but a price worth paying!

Congratulations to all those winners out there - hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. 

(Photo from Mike Millard of Poole Yacht Club - check out his Flickr site for all the photos of the two days)