Squib Racing 28th May

First let me apologies to the fleet because since Hannah and I have been sailing a Squib I think we have only had one day with good wind. And that ironically was on a day that was meant to have no wind at all and there was only Sandy Cheeks and us sailing. So to maintain that tradition the wind today was also rubbish. The forecasted 10 knots turned out to be 5 at best and with a strong outgoing tide it meant that although we would all get down to 23, 22, MYA1 (the furthest marks) ok getting back may not be so easy. The light winds would also make the start tricky as at the 5 minute gun there was little of no wind and it was a struggle just to stay up river of the line. Further confusion was had on Legend identifying the boats that were racing with us today as we had a Light Blue boat called Sandy… Cheeks. A Blue boat called White… Knuckles. A White boat called Black… Mark plus the easier to describe Green boat called Water Rat and a Red boat called Legend.

The fleet made a great start with everyone at the line and at speed…. I say at speed but really we were doing little more than drifting with the tide but it was White knuckles that showed us all the way down to Gillingham. From here at became even calmer, if that were indeed possible, but when the new pressure finally arrived it was Sandy Cheeks who got into it first and who would lead the still tightly packed fleet to 26

Here though they got a bit racy and tried to fly their spinnaker on the short hope over to 27 but the faffing around that always goes with a hoist and drop allowed Blackmark to sneak through into the lead. They then held the lead down around 23 and 22 with Sandy cheeks sneaking back in front at MYA1.

Here a few things happened. Firstly Getting to MYA1 involved a struggle against the tide which allowed the front three boats to get clear of Water Rat and White knuckles who would then have their own race to the finish. Sandy Cheeks hoisted their spinnaker and set about sailing the shortest route over to 26 but this left them in the tide and venerable in the fickle wind. Black Mark who were second decided to take the slightly longer but safer route up Hoo Island side but elected not to fly a spinnaker.

Legend who were third and who had nothing to lose, hoisted their kite and set out after Black Mark. By 26 they had not only over hauled them but had also managed to get a boat length in front of Sandy Cheeks, from here on the two would have a match race back to the line. The lead would change several times and the two were never more than a couple of boat lengths apart so it was all quite tense especially given the light and fickle winds but in the end Legend rolled over the top of Sandy Cheeks just before getting to 30A and took a lead that they would maintain to the line.

So it wasn’t an epic day but we all made it round in some trying conditions and I think everyone enjoyed them selves, I know we did.

Ian and Hannah

Legend