We must get back on the water.

Following the massive collision the previous week, the week of 2 February was a much more positive experience for myself and Sarah.

We were able to use 13851 - the boat that Sarah and her husband Tom have purchased recently. She is a really well fitted and tuned Speedsails GRP boat, and has a well balanced feel.

We spend the morning rehearsing our tacking and gybing, and with some trepidation we headed off to the first real race we had done together - hoping all the time that we would not have any accidents this time. 

For the first race, we were able to get a good start on the gun, only to find a very late General Recall from the committee boat. I checked with them - we had not been over, but a sufficient number of other boats had been OCS to cause them to make the late call for a General Recall. 

Very often, a committee boat will do a Black Flag restart after a General Recall. However, this time they were being kind to us, and just displayed the normal sequence. We had a reasonable, although not spectacular, start. 

The rest of the race was relatively uneventful. We keep our position, and were able to take a couple of the stragglers, to the point where we ended up in the second half of the fleet, but at least not at the very end. In fact, I was really pleased with the whole episode, because Sarah has become some smooth that I felt confident enough to look "outside the boat", rather than having to worry about technique. It was a question of "just tack here", and we did so - no fuss, no drama. The wind was northerly, so I was able to make VMG over other boats by heading to the Southern shore. A reasonable result to restore our confidence. 

The second "B" race meant that we were obliged to keep clear of racing boats, since the race did not qualify for me. Nevertheless, we finished around mid-fleet again, which reinforced my confidence that we were a team to be reckoned with in the future. 

We won't be sailing together for a couple of weeks, but the future looks promising. 

Watch this space....

Harp - we have a problem

Bang !

According to my friends, the collision was heard the other side of the Welsh Harp, back at the Club House.

It was 26th January, and a blustery day, and the first outing of 13941 with myself and Sarah Lohan, who had joined me as a new crew for this season.

Sarah and I had a great practice session before the afternoon racing, and were beginning to get a smooth routine for tacking and gybing. We are not yet into flying a Spinnaker, but I am sure that will come.

We finished the morning in high hopes.

The afternoon was going to be very physical, but our objective was to get round the course.

It was not to be.

I take full responsibility for what happened at the four minute flag. The "P" (Blue Peter or Preparation) Flag had just gone down, and we were on Port Tack along the line, preparing to position ourselves for a committee boat start. I was in the middle of trying to explain something to Sarah, who was paying attention to me. Neither of use saw Steve Cooper's boat (14151) coming on on Starboard tack, until it was too late.

Instinctively, I tried to slow down the boat by leaning back and digging the transom in the water. However, it was too late. 13941 reared up like Jaws, and cut into the port side of Steve's boat, and suffered major damage to her bows as a result.

There was enough damage to Steve's boat to cause a significant hole. Despite this, Steve and Amy elected to continue racing, and actually came third in their first race. They also stayed in the water for their second race, which Amy won.

On the other hand our own boat had sustained a massive hole, and was sinking. I made sure the safety boat was aware of our predicament, and we gently nursed the boat back to the pontoon, staying on the transom as much as possible in order to prevent too much was ingress. 

When we eventually limped back to the pontoon, the boat was probably half the freeboard it normally  had. Despite the help of a couple of Sea Cadets, we were unable to pull her fully out the water; we just had to wait until the water had drained out (it seemed to take hours...) before we could get the boat up the slipway.

What followed was a standard breakdown ready for travel. The mast was stored on top of the started clubhouse. All the other fitments (rudder, boom, sails etc.) were put into our car, and the road trailer was set up ready for a visit to the repair shop.

I subsequently spoke to the insurance company, and to Ben Dingwall. It looks like this may be some time, and of course Steve's immaculate wooden boat needs to be repaired at insurance cost before mine is repaired. 

Not a very impressive start to the season. 

Things can only get better in future. 

So we need to get back onto the water as soon as possible, and try to go forward from this setback.