GP14 Nationals - day 1

Sunday 6 August - the first day of the 2017 GP14 National Championships at Looe, in Cornwall.

The wind is expected to be 11 to 15 knots, south westerly, so a bit of a swell from the tide effect. The sun is shining. What's not to like? Today is going to be fun!

Thanks to all the people who sent best wishes via Facebook, WhatsApp and Text.

By now, all the Welsh Harp sailors were around, so there was time for some group photos before we headed out for a full Practice Race, to be followed by race one. 

Today was also the first trial of my secret weapon - a couple of washers tied into the Genoa sheets to prevent them pulling through the cleats ( which is what happened yesterday ). 

As we headed out,  we did a test spinnaker hoist and gybe. Just as we gybed the kite, we noticed the pole downhaul snagging the Genoa sheet - black mark to the person who had done the rigging this morning (me!). We soon fixed that, and prepared for the gate start for the Practice Race. 

Either by accident or design, the line of the gate start was a transit from the committee boat to the western edge of Looe itself. So we could get a reasonable start, although we could have benefitted from being another boat length nearer the gate boat. Then we were off. It looked like there were a few other "pond" sailors with us. 

As this was the Practice Race, we kept to the right hand and centre of the course, and arrived at the windward mark with a gaggle of other boats. For some reason, the spinnaker was really difficult  to hoist and we had a foot of halyard from the mast (it should be one inch). We chased a few other boats and gybed ok round the spreader mark. Then a quick drop at the leeward mark, and a quick tack out of trouble to get back up the Beat. At the top mark and "spreader", the spinnaker was again difficult to hoist, so we had to let off the rig tension to get the kite up. That cost us distance. Then a massive tug to put the rig tension back on, and we were back in the race again. 

We finished the practice race with half a dozen boats behind us. A reasonable result to start with. 

A quick sandwich, and it was the gate start for the first race. Again, we were about a boat length too low, but made good progress up the Beat, keeping our eyes on the other 'Harp sailors around. 

This time the spinnaker reaches were easier on the hoist, and we got in a couple of reasonable gybes. But we seemed to loose pace downwind, although maintained our position on the Beat. The wind seemed to be getting stronger, and the waves were about 3 feet at times. 

This was a triangle-sausage-triangle course. On the last triangle, we dropped the kite before the gybe at the wing mark - I'd rather finish than capsize in the first race! The final downwind leg was great surfing - one wave seemed to carry us for ages, and I was convinced we were going to fall off the front of it 

The final Beat to the finish line, we were part of a collection of four WHSC boats all vying for position. I was on Port, and aimed for the committee boat at the right hand side of the finish line. Just then, another boat came in on Starboard, so we had to tack off and he beat us to the line. Pity. Maybe I should have ducked him instead, but a tack had been the safest option. We had finished. 

The biggest News Story of the day occurred as we were back on the beach: I had dropped the sails when I fell backwards in the boat, grabbed the mast to steady myself, and dragged it on top of me - the "gate" was open, and the forestay bungee snapped. It was the quickest dis-masting ever! 

There was no lasting damage - except my dignity - and we soon replaced the bungee ready for the next race. 

We had given a reasonable account of ourselves. But we know we are capable of doing better. We shall see in races 2 and 3 tomorrow.