What a shocking start at BRSC Regatta

12 March 2011
For some inexplicable reason I didn't take a single photo at this regatta so just to confuse you all here is a photo of Nicky Greenlaw and me taken in Fiji during the July 2010 school holidays where we crewed for Jim Marco on his yacht Intention. Nicky was teaching on Lord Howe Island for the whole of 2010 so I lost one of my most frequent crews. Now she is back teaching in the Northern Rivers and enthusiastically accepted my invitation to crew at this regatta.

Pam and Nicky in Fiji July 10

We got a shocking start. About 10 minutes before the start there was a light breeze and we zoomed over to the far side of the river anticipating heaps of time to return to the near side and position ourselves for the start. Others were smarter than us and got in position close to the line earlier. At the critical moment the wind died away completely and we ended up almost 15 minutes late over the line. A couple of times I had to tack away from the line as I was about to drift into the committee boat. I didn't fancy trying penalty turns in a dead calm. Clearly I need to work on starting strategies.

Fortunately quite soon a light breeze sprang up and although it was slow going against the tide we were able to hold a narrow reach most of the way to the Goodwood Mark (which is about 2/3 of the way to Iluka). As one of the "slower yachts" we were told to shorten course by turning back at the Goodwood mark. We were on a broad reach and then a run all the way back to the Harwood Bridge. The new modified extendable boat hook aka whisker pole was a great success (see the last post for the fate of the previous whisker pole). The gentle breeze was a pleasant contrast to the wild conditions at the November Bridge to Breakers regatta.

Although we were almost the last to cross the finishing line we had enjoyed the afternoon and were quite pleased to find ourselves placed 6 out of 8 in the handicap results for our division. At least we weren't last.

It is probably best that I draw a veil over the rest of the day. Unfortunately there was an incident when I went to fetch the trailer to pull Little Dragon out of the water. We planned to overnight ashore as we needed to leave the next morning. My car ended up with damage to the wing and I was pretty upset.

However the dent in my car is being fixed (thank you APIA) and I am already looking forward to the November Bridge to Breakers.