| Tell
Tales 24th
February, 2007
Finally, the sailors appeared to be in for a good
day on the water with a steady S-W to Southerly wind
at about 12 knots. Unfortunately the day started badly
when the lowest tide ever at the launch ramp was matched
by the lowest sight - a dozen or so severed shark
heads, carcasses and entrails spread all over the
rocks. Whoever guts their fish in the harbour ought
to remove the mess and remind themselves that it’s
not merely unsightly – our town’s kids
swim in that place.
We had another one of those conversations between
father and son, Russell & Andrew Smith, culminating
in the line of the day, “You’ve got your
hand on it!” yelled Russell as Andrew searched
the mast for the spinnaker pole ‘D’ ring:
Nevertheless, Marg, Susie and Andrew were content
to sail without the spinnaker. Despite this ‘Sista
Mermaid’ did not do too badly, particularly
sailing into the wind. One can only imagine how much
better they will go when they learn to hike out a
bit more (and use the spinnaker.)
‘La Boheme’ sailed a blinder. With Skipper
Angelica at the helm and cabin boy Gary grunting about
all over the winches they almost closed the five minute
gap to ‘Miss Molly’ before she pulled
away again later in the race. Well done bohemians!
‘Interlude’ lost it at the start and
gave everyone a big lead before taking off on a late
port tack Meanwhile ‘Tumbleweed’ had showcased
their ‘boomless’ spinnaker skills before
the race started, displaying notable control with
the spinnaker sock. Unfortunately, when the race got
underway they went wobbly under pressure, sailing
off to Cape Paton and exhibiting all sorts of difficulty.
The crew on the rescue boat were disappointed not
to see one of the cabin boys ordered up the mast again.
That would have been impressive indeed on the high
seas. Instead, John and the boys on ‘Interlude’
came round the first mark and sailed ahead of them.
Geekes celebrated his birthday with a typically strong
showing, taking line honours a full ten minutes ahead
of the second boat, ‘Miss Molly.’ The
‘505’ skippered by Jeffers and with Bournie
hiking like mad outside the rails, sailed a controlled
race - no tip ups, but no spinnaker either.
‘Tool of the week’ is a toss up this
time. It could go to your correspondent, as officer
of the day, for calling a shortened course too early…
before ‘Tumbleweed’ came good. It could
go to the rest of the fleet who sailed through the
finish line, completely ignoring the flags, and roaring
around for another triangle. Or, it could go to the
crew of ‘Sista Mermaid’ for sailing off
their mooring and leaving the rope at the bottom of
the harbour. Or, it could go to the ‘tool’
who gutted his fish and left them at the ramp.
Results:
Handicap
1. La Boheme 61.54
2. Interlude 67.48
3. Miss Molly 69.73
Yardstick
1. La Boheme 63.08
2. Interlude 65.97
3. NYAWB 66.04
.
|
