Ups and Downs at MYC
Compared to last week, the temperature was up, the greyness down and the wind a little down. The tide was going down instead of up, and spinnakers were deemed acceptable to go up and down.
The wind direction was the same so it was W/L where ever we went on the river !
Simple course, 22 via 23 and back. With Stan away, there were trials and tribulations getting a crew involving volunteers, injuries, missed messages and good use of the trot boat but all worked out well in the end.
Leg End and Monkey Business started evenly, with LE getting a slight lead by Mears, where my attachment for jib luff tension decided it was time to give up and the jib came down. Jury rig fixed up and down to second place.
Lucky wind shift put me up to first before 23, then off to 22.
One of the problems of rigging the spinnaker is that you know it’s never going to go well the first time you put it up, and so it was with LE. The sheets were wrong so up and down it went. Tangle sorted, up it went, and down it came again as was not sorted. Second attempt worked so it went up and stayed up to the finish.
The ups and downs meant we were back to last place, but not far behind as we progressed to Folly. With echo sounder working intermittently, I was wondering how close we could get to the beacon to avoid the ebbing tide, and I realised how close as we slid across the gravel bar polishing the anti-fouling on the bottom of the keel.
The lead changed a few times as we passed mears and entered heartbreak reach. MB was out in the river and gained with more wind, but LE stayed on the south shore inside the moorings.
My crew for the day showed excellent spinnaker handling as we crept up against the tide and we were neck and neck past Wilsonians,
As we approached the line, it was difficult to tell who was ahead, but LE got the hooter 11 seconds ahead.
Spinnaker down and jib still up and a fascinating race ended with all it’s ups and downs.
Roger