Since our fastest time result in the third race of the summer series we have been going backwards in the fastest times order. In past series we have had the isolated 8th fastest result but this autumn series we have collected a treble of terrible results with a 9, 9 and 8th fastest. We do not expect to beat the Ker 11.3’s of the Sydney 38’s except in extraordinary circumstances and the J112’s and J122 are very hard to beat on the courses that suite them so I am pretty happy with anything better than a 6th fastest and pretty sad with anything worse than a 8th fastest when the whole fleet turns up. Tonight the two J112’s and one of the Sydney 38’s were missing so our 8th place was very disappointing.
We did pinch a lot tonight and that in not one of our strong points. All too often we tacked and had to pinch along a shore where a longer course with wider angles may have been more successful. Also as a result of pinching we spend too long in the dirty air of the yachts in front.
It has been six months since antifouling and perhaps it is time to have a very thorough scrub to freshen up the surface. Our maximum speed under motor has dropped off quite a lot so we will give the scrub a go and see the results.
The breeze did die tonight leaving us with Sweet Chariot, Lisdillon, Irukandji, Ausreo and Fireball a long way behind. Ausreo and Fireball called it quits early while Irukandji found some wind and broke away. We were left with Lisdillon and Sweet Chariot at the back of the fleet and scraping home just within the time limit.
Congratulation to Christian Beck on Dump Truck for a well deserved first and fastest result ahead of Utopia and Much Ado V. With more time in the boat Dump Truck is getting better and better and the new mainsail on Utopia seems to be doing the trick.
After our result tonight one can only hope that some good photographs turn up on the Greenwich Flying Squadron facebook page.