Day 2 of the 2005 Etchells Worlds – San Francisco Bay
Another tough, scrappy day for us. Finished 12th after being as deep as 25th at the first mark. More fantastic sailing conditions. Up to 20 knots by the finish.
The race today was won by the seal-basher (Canadian) ex-finn sailor Hank Lemens. They pipped Jud Smith, who now leads the event with 5 points. Yesterday’s winner, the 16 year old Shark Khan was in 9th, one length ahead of us. The pommy Stuart Childerly was about 7th, after throwing away a fantatastic start, where he port tacked the fleet.
We had a decent start toward the favoured left end, but were not able to tack for a while and the right side eventualy won big. On the second beat we passed ten boats by being to the right. One the last beat we were really coming at the leaders, but after slamming a huge wave, the line that secures the jib tack broke and I needed to go forward to the bow to tie the jib tack down. I had plenty on up there, with the bow plunging through waves in 20 knots. The resultant repair saw the jib set up 6 inches off the deck and with the jib cars all the way to the back of the track. Believe it or not, we actually gained ground with that set-up in 20 knots (re write the tuning guide Cocko)!!
Of the other aussies, the reigning world champ, Pete McNeil was ahead of us for a lap, but I think finished in the 20’s. Brownie was in the 30’s. Big Bad Denis dropped back to about 25th I think. No surprises that the stars here are the “teams” that have put the work into the class on SF Bay over the past months. They include Craig Healy, Shark Khan, Jeff Pate and of course Jud Smith.
No OCS’s today. Requests for redress for seven of the ten OCS’s boats yesterday kept the jury entertained until long into last night at the club, but they were all denied.
So, very early days still, but we lie 8th. Two races tomorrow ( abig day physically). We are not doing much wrong. Hopefully some things will fall into place for us a little more… Reality is that we are a team that has sailed together now for three days total. Add to that that George cannott understand half of what Iain and I say (normally a mixture of aussie sailing slang and cockney rhyming slang), although he has started writing all of the phrases down in his wet notes book.
If I can lift my arms to type after two races tomorrow, I’ll to you then.
Dog. 10:18pm Tues 6 Sept…..
September 7th, 2005 at 2:14 am
Hi Dog,
It’s great reading what you are doing- I can’t believe you have enough energy to type after sailing. Keep up the good work- we are all following you!
from all the Short Shorts