Well another stunningly perfect weekend of skiff sailing conditions on Sydney Harbour greeted the team again. With forecast of a dying Southerly the team were thinking big rig, but as the day progressed the breeze clocked a little to the left and started to increase from the South East. At some point it looked like being a little too fresh for my young crew, but Bendo and Sam where very keen to test out all the new changes to our No2 rig as well as our abilities
On with the small rig and after a few tweaks of the set up to allow for all of Neils changes at Barracouta Sails... link here... http://barracoutasails.com/default.aspx we headed out to test ourselves and the rig. After starting very late and giving Flipper a good 10 mins headstart we managed to get around the track with no huge dramas... apart from nearly ending up driving the skiff up on the rocks at about 20+knts on a crazy 2 sail reach past Cremorne Point lighthouse... actually would have ended up in the lighthouse if it wasnt for Bendos quick thinking under pressure and easing heaps of headsail just at the rite moment... oh and some awesome kite runs which the guys where heard to say " thats the fastest we have ever been" with a few "F" words deleted....if only we had the GPS
Basically a great training day for the guys in probably the freshest conditions they have ever sailed an 18, something that is not as easy as it sounds, with no swims, no problems, no broken gear or stuff ups... just the perfect day to get the boys confidence going
Then on to sunday against the pros from the League, this time a lovely building North Easter... and a perfect mid range No.1 rig race.
We started quite well after the first general recall and maaged to cross most of the fleet at Bradleys Head on port tack, all thanks to the start boat moving the pin end up to windward by 50 metres and making the start line even more biased at the pin end... cheers Ace... as well as Sams excellent countdown skills... we arrived very late to the start line with less than 2 minutes to go with no countdown watch, at the 1min signal Sam called every second down till the start gun... I guess all that music training at the Con made the all difference, from there we slowly got gobbled up by the fast guys and after a luckless entry and exit from Shark Is the first time around we lost 8 boats down the kite legs, but still hanging in there with most of the mid fleet
Eventually we finished in 19th after somehow getting the tack line wrapped in a knot around the end of the pole at the last top mark, so in the drink with Bendo up to the end of the pole and undo the mess and putting us behind the pack, we did manage to pass one upturned League skiff near the finish line, he must have felt bad for us when he passed us at the top mark while we untied our mess
So 19th... while most skiff experts would say that is pretty ordinary, me and the guys are pretty damn happy with this result, specially our start and staying with the fast guys for a lap or so... again last year we could only dream of doing this. With every week young Sam and Bendo are proving to be great learners and great skiff sailors after only 5 races together, we are getting the basics sorted very well and staying out of trouble, no crashes, no swims and in general a very happy skiff team
With some more great training days like this we eventually can sail with our heads out of the boat a bit more and try and stay with the quick guys just a little longer around the race track...but as they say "you have to crawl before you walk"
The other positive sign for the team is the astounding amount of interest generated in the rigging park at SFS headquarters with many people chatting happily to the guys while we rig, and not just from other sailors but members of the general public just asking questions and genuinely interested in our skiff, from the shiny new carbon wings to the paint work or the usual question of "how fast is it???" One interesting comment from a lovely old American lady passing by "what stops the water coming in the back???" The guys simple answer - "speed"
Other people coming up to us saying they have some pics of us from the week earlier on the Harbour and would we like to have a look... really incredible the number of people interested and makes for a fun friendly atmosphere around the skiff and for the team... if only we could convey this interest to a prospective sponsor... one day we mite get lucky... but for now we push on doing the small improvements to rig and sails and getting the team sailing well together... so far so good
Finally a big congrats to the young Gotta Love It 7 team and their amazing win by nearly 2 mins... thats a huge margin at this time of the year leading up to the JJ, and one that will have the other League guys wondering how to catch up... yes they have got some good backing behind them and all the best gear, but they are really making the most of there good fortune... there are plenty of other well funded teams out there but showing very little of the skill and talent that is obvious on the 7 skiff... well done blokes
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