Monday, August 16, 2010

Oxygen Masks Will Deploy From The Boom...

...For those times when the wind craps out or some big yacht steals the breeze away.

1st weekend of Western Circuit saw some 50 boats out and about racing. This is the biggest yacht regatta in Singapore, and the first time there was enough boats for a Moth division. We managed to get 5 boats registered out of the 7 in Singapore (with another 2 in transit).

Wind was patchy and variable with the strong tides and passing clouds making a big impact. Probably had a max of 12 knots, but most of the time 6-10. And for a moth sailing amongst the yachts, they certainly can suck up whatever air there may be on the course and you really did need oxygen masks at times!

So we managed to get 3 races done. Robbo and I raced amongst ourselves, whilst the others are in learning mode and tried their best to get around the course and stay out of harms way. Robbo got 2 wins, and I got one. Races were won by who managed to stay on the foils during the first leg and were able to get out of the brutal 2-3 knot tide. Robbo unfortunately had the edge over me, need to work more on this marginal stuff.

First race I didn't do myself any favours when my high-tech electrical tape covering the high-tech bunghole came off before the start. Was wondering why it was hard to take-off and where all the sloshing noise was coming from when on the foils. Back to the beach for the long drain out before race 2...

Race 2 I managed to get to the top mark just before Robbo and catch a gust with some massive pumps and foil away whilst Robbo sat stranded waiting for the next line of breeze.

Race 3 had a painful low riding leg to the finish punching the tide. Could hear the gurgling of the tide in the gantry making it sound like you were going fast albeit lowriding, but any look at the shoreline was demoralising as you were fairly much holding station.

All in all a good day and attracted a lot of interest. Had a couple of tyre-kickers after the race, so hopefully this translates into boats.

2 more weekends to go. Next weekend is distance racing for everyone else, whilst we do our own thing with some short course racing.