Race Report for 10th May 2008
It was a bright day where even a Mylar strip struggled to flutter.
My son Alistair’s had asked that I sail his 507 “Sunbird” (GBR507) that he had launched last weekend but was absent due to an arm injury.
Unfortunately, John Brine with his “Fat Bullet” GBR25 and I were the only ones to arrive for this meeting - (we later found out that the club had changed the date and John & I had been un-contactable)
Never the less at 10am we held council and decided to soldier on. As luck would have it I had brought my new shore deployable/recoverable buoys and proceeded to set out a simple course - just as well as GBR25’s blue sails were becalmed on numerous occasions.
By coffee time (11am) I had hatched an idea as “Sunbird” needed some competition for her A++ rig with its 660mm luff and 460mm boom!!
The answer was simple re-rig GBR25 with my 507 “Ayita’s” (GBR125) A+ rig a 660mm luff and 280mm boom that I happened to have with me in the sail box - after all the last two numbers were exactly what were needed for John and as he only had one set of sails I did not think that it was against the two sail rule.
We quickly improvised a 5mm carbon tube sleeve to fit John’s mast position and the Una rig was set. John launched and his boat and it took off like a scalded cat – The acceleration was phenomenal and I told John how good I thought it was - now I had some competition!
So for the rest of the morning we sailed as best as we could with the prevailing winds where ducks and their chicks made more ripples than we did.
Lunch was a very enjoyable affair, we exchanged ideas and diagrams where drawn on scraps of paper whilst sitting under the shade of a tree with pink blossom gently falling in the balmy air - This was the stuff long summer days are made of that you look back on and remember with relish.
Following lunch, we sailed again spending an enjoyable hour plying our Footy’s to and fro - but it was getting too hot so we retreated once more to the shade and sip tea.
John said that he had been immensely impressed by the Una rig’s performance and was regretting having to give the sail back to me – I had already decided that it would be a nice gesture to let John have the rig and added one of Ayita’s “B” rigs to go with it to make a set.
John had also noted my admiration for the acceleration of his hull and said that he had a spare hull that he would like to give me – I accepted his offer and look forward to its arrival.
We had by pure accident experienced a truly fantastic day and whilst the 507 had with its larger sail headed the field, I believe this event merited a draw.
John and I parted in true Footy tradition, shaking hands and wishing each other a safe journey.
Best wishes
AndyT