something a little different...race 2

After surviving the Race 1 fresh conditions fairly well and having a great day remembering how to tack and gybe a boat with planks again..and working out what to do with a tiller and mainsheet and plank while tacking, our day one finished with a fighting 5th place...after rounding the first mark with only a few boats behind me, the day proved to be a great training run, and our last work to the finish we picked up 6 boats...and im thinking, finally the years of local knowledge made a huge difference to what couldve been a very tough regatta start

so onto race 2...and the officialls decided the local boats had things a bit easy on day 1, so lets go out into the middle of Botany Bay with a 5-8knt easterly...truelly my least favourite conditions...but at least in these conditions i could fine tune my boat handling without worrying about falling off the plank
as the video below shows, we got a perfect pin end start, but bad luck for us, it was called a general...start 2 was, to say the least, terrible and we were buried...and now with the lite wind conditions all the Skates were all very similar paced, so it made for a very long day floating around the Bay...we fought hard and made up good places all day, and finished up with an awesome 4th place

so after 2 days back on the planks im beginning to find my feet again, and im realising im on a fast boat with probably one of the best skate crews around, and im totally enjoying being in a fleet of great boats and great people...some of which have been in the class since i left it 20 something years ago...and i beginning to know why...these are fantastic little boats, wether its upwind or down or 20kts plus or 8knt easterlys, its a very close racing fleet full with a bunch of guys and gals that are here for the fun...

day 3 arrives and the N/E seabreeze is starting to look nice with racing to be held back near the St.G club house at the mouth of Georges River...luckily for me its a ebb tide, so no crazy huge waves to contend with, but after my cruisy 8knts day in Race 1, im thinking, please just another easy day to find my feet...by the start time its over 15knts and im nervous...but as it turned out for no good reason...the memory banks kick in and its just like i was a kid again...beautifull blue skies and warm temps and a perfect seabreeze...couldnt ask for better Skate sailing conditions...allmost like these boats where made for this...i get of line fast and in the top bunch around the first mark...kites up and these boats are fulling cranking down the river...and im in heaven...sailing doesnt get much better than this...this didnt last long, my forst gybe was super sketchy, all arms and legs and ropes and planks everywhere...not to worry as my new crew is super cool and helps me out of trouble...no worries as i throw the little skate into the second lap and we are in the lead...yeehaaahhh...untill the big gybe crash...i got a bit too carried away with my growing confidence and take a slip mid gybe...not to worry as im having way to much fun to worry about what place we finish...in the end we pull a few boats back and take a 3rd palce

so 3 races down and and we have a 5,4,3 score card so far...im stocked, and very pleased with our improving places...unfortunatley no video of race 3 to show my gybe crash...but its beginning to make sence why a lot of Skate sailors have been in this class so long...there is nothing else like these boats...they do have common traits of an 18, but in a scaled down version...without the hassle of choosing rigs or lifting heavy boats in and out of the water, and being at a huge club like St.G, once the racing is done, just wheel the boats in the shed and upsatirs to the bar...im beginning to wonder why i ever left this class...not to mention the super bunch of people involved, with everyone happilly chatting away after each race on the balcony with many beers to help wash away the saltwater...great times indeed

more to follow in next few days as my Skate race week continues