Well last weekend we raced in the Lock Crowther Memorial
Regatta here in
Sydney.
It was a "working
sails only"
regatta for those of us in the cruising division.
2 races per day with an arbitrary handicap system.
There were 8 boats in the division and on Saturday it blew a good steady 18 knots for the morning
race and then 20 to 25 for the afternoon
race. it truly blew and the rain made it most unpleasant.
There was just the Admiral, a friend of ours and me on board with the Admiral
steering. She had never been
racing before let alone steered during
racing.
Results: Winner of race 1 and second in race 2 !!!!
There were three
Seawind 1000 and other cruisers including an Oram 43 and Crowther 52.
The Seawinds were faster than us downwind but we were 5 degrees higher than them upwind and much faster. For example, in the second race we went around the last mark three boatlengths behind a
Seawind and in a 1.5 mile beat we stuck 5 minutes into them.
Sunday saw a change in the
weather (or at least the wind). Light and patchy breeze with lots of holes (still raining).
Results were a last and an unable to finish inside time limit.
Again the Seawinds were faster downwind. They are a lot lighter. Once they had a gap the different
wind all over the course made it difficult to bridge the gap.
A great weekend and some interesting lessons learned.
You have to be able to barberhaul the headsail off the wind. It allows you to goosewing even when you are not DDW and gives a much better sail shape when reaching.
Even in the gusts on Saturday afternoon which exceeded 25 knots the
boat felt stable and in control. We did not reef. the feeling I got was that upwind the leeward
hull just bit in a little and gave 2gether heaps of height.
Photos, if we get any, to follow.
daniel and elaine