Welcome to 2019 !
It was time to start as I would like to go on...
I must admit that 2018 was a bit of a disappointment as far as sailing was concerned.
It had started with the problems with the boat during the 2017 Nationals, the broken centreboard, and the subsequent discovery of the significant damage to the centreboard casing at the end of the year. The work on the centreboard casing had taken months to resolve in early 2018, by which time I had taken up a new job that involved me travelling a lot throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa. Ewe also had a very enjoyable family holiday in Canada, which meant that I did not have holiday time available to attend open events (particularly the GP14 Nationals). So not much sailing was done during 2018.
With the start of the new year, it was time to make a new resolution, and determine to make time for the sport in 2019.
The boat looks in good condition. GP14 number 13941 did look a bit forlorn when I uncovered her in the (cold, freezing) weather at the Harp today.
So it was time to be re-acquainted. An hour or so on Saturday morning - single-handed - should help. It was only a couple of knots of wind, so I did manage to get the spinnaker up for a few minutes, without any issues. The wind was northerly across the Harp, so fairly consistent if you sail on the southern shore. Having dropped the kite, I tried some rudderless sailing, just to remind myself how to do this. After half an hour of pirouettes, I decided it was time to get back in and have a go at afternoon racing.
Although the wind was light, the afternoon looked like a good opportunity to start racing again.
I made a call out for someone to crew for me, and Mike Smith replied instantly; it was a chance for the old team to make in an appearance!
The first race was a bit disappointing. I mis-judged the timing to the start, and had to tack off to port behind the fleet and followed everyone else throughout the race. We did have a couple of opportunities to luff up a couple of other boats, but we were both out of practice and they rolled over the top of us. Almost at the back of the fleet, we had at least made it round the course.
The second race was a bit more interesting, although it was a 'B' race, which meant that I did not gain any qualifying benefit from the race.
We had a better start, at least up with the fleet, rather than 30 seconds behind.
Keith Street had given me a hint from the safety boat in the interval: the northerly wind was lighter on the north shore, and became stronger on the southern side of the lake. The advice was: "go low" with the spinnaker. The advice was timely.
The race was about 3 laps. In each case, we went low during the spinnaker run, and were able to overtake some boats (or at least able to keep up with the fleet).
We ended the race around the middle of the fleet.
The only down-side to the day (apart from the fact that it was very cold...) was that we had a problem with the starboard spinnaker twinning line. Mike pulled it on - and the clear pulled out of the the hull. It seems that we have some repair work to do before the season starts.
BUT, all in all, a great start to the season.
Let's see what the rest of the year brings...
