The event on Wednesday was very exciting because of the strong wind, starting with a forecast of 12 to 24 mph south-westerly and by lunchtime 23 to 44 mph south south-westerly. We decided not to use the western control area because of the problem with the mud and the recent heavy rain. Roger set an unusual course with a running start, basically in the clear SW air off the south bank western corner with the leeward mark directly downwind as far as we could reasonably see to judge the mark rounding. It was impossible to use 2 leeward marks for the gate because the ‘tide’ had risen 2 feet with the recent rain and only the yellow mark C had a long enough mooring line.
Frensham Pond used a running start for their 2023 10 rater/Marblehead open and it worked very well with the starts being remarkably ordered with a much less aggressive and more cautious approach than windward starts. The same happened yesterday and whilst there was still a relatively quiet start, the strong gusts made for very exciting racing with the boats going flat out downwind. Approaching the leeward mark with the full impact of the black gusts there were many nosedives, rudders showing and broaching with boats hardly under proper control. Even BOTTLE boat no:4 had a couple of goes at being bows under at 45° to the surface!
Most used A rigs, but Slieve used B rig throughout the event and could not complain about always being last, because as you can see from the results he won 2 races and was relatively consistent in the others. Roger had no real choice because the BOTTLE boat small rig is for exceptionally strong consistent winds. What was remarkable was that the thin polythene sails and the thin 6 mm diameter cantilevered mast, compared with the DF’s 8 mm, stayed in one piece despite the abuse of hitting the water at such speed in the broaches.
Whilst going downwind was very quick, it took longer to beat back and it was a challenge to be get on the right shifts, not get too far off the rhum line and tack well et cetera. The gust caused amazing eddies in which you could be on either tack within seconds without touching the helm! Whilst the BOTTLE boat normally struggles to be competitive to windward against the DF 95s because of the short waterline length, all those other factors and getting a good start, helped Roger to some good results. There was one offwind leg where the dead run became a quartering run with the more southerly breeze and when heeled BOTTLE boat no: 4 achieved an incredible speed, which has never been seen before, going absolutely flat out in a cloud of spray, as if a rocket was propelling it!
Mike Wilkie who had been off 3 months because of a chest infection was absolutely delighted to get back and enjoy the excitement of the racing. He made the comment as we were packing up as the rain had just started at 1 o’clock “…they not know what they have missed!”.
