Racing again!

Firstly Happy New Year to you all.   We had a very busy Christmas and even New Year was good with a party at a friend's place.  The weather has at last become fine after quite a lot of rain.  The opportunity to race today came because my 'significant other' was unable to race with the Cap'n who had family commitments.  We brought Pathfinder in to add some snap strap and hooks to the new cover to replace the string which we had been using since the makers devices had popped off.  It worked well and took little time to complete.  My sister is visiting at the moment and she is an enthusiastic beginner so we decided to join the race and had a great time.  The weather was perfect. A 10-15 knot breeze that was a little fickle at times, beautiful sunshine and calm seas - all were just magic. We started really well and were well in the race with all the others. We had a very good first triangle although there was quite a bit of tacking required to make the third mark. We lost a little on the others at this point. A good run back was spoilt as the wind changed direction and pushed us across the bay, making it necessary to tack to the buoy at the apex of the triangle. All was going well and we looked like we would round the mark ahead of two other yachts when one decided to do a very sharp tack across our bows.  To avoid collision we had to pull away and as a result missed the mark and had to do three tacks to finally make the buoy.  That debacle meant the other two yachts got well away from us and with a couple of periods where we were almost becalmed we were soon tailing the fleet.  We still had a wonderful sail and really enjoyed the day. It was a great day for beginners and we were delighted to just be out on the water. 

Twilight racing begins on Tuesday - so now I must ensure that we have a crew. 'Til then... fair winds and good sailing.