Albacore: refloated

It was a good weekend. They're usually all good weekends, but this one felt extra special. And, being the Easter Bank Holiday here in the UK, extra long as we got both Friday and Monday off work to pad it out.

So we started out Thursday evening. Being my 50th birthday, Nik, Sam (youngest, only one still at home) and I went over to Dad's where my sister-in-law Arya cooked us supper. Arya is Indonesian, which I think is synonymous with "amazing cook" and supper was accordingly delicious. And we got to eat with her, Dad and my brother Jamie for the first time in a very long time, which was possibly the best birthday present I could ask for.

Which is not to say, of course, that other presents were not involved.

Friday was spent in sunshine tidying the garden, and then that evening there was a virtual open mic night, so more good company (if only "in-video")  and an incautious amount of music and alcohol to go with it.

And then Saturday I met up with Amanda at the lake. As I've doubtless mentioned up here before, Amanda co-owns and races the Albacore with me. 

We had to raise the mast, twice as I rigged it wrong the first time, and check all the control lines and both sails were in good order. When we last put the boat away mid-October I hadn't intended to leave her like that for six months, but circumstances overtook us. And everybody else. But we were lucky and the boat has a good cover. The boat and sails were dry and, more to the point and my great relief, no sign of any nibbling vermin having made themselves at home in our absence.

Of course, having rigged the boat we needed to take her out to make sure she could still float, so spent a very enjoyable Saturday afternoon charging around the lake. The wind was blustery enough to get the boat up on the plane once or twice, but nothing too rough, perfect for our belated maiden voyage of the year. The temperature had been chilly rigging ashore, but once out on the water it was fine.

Home again after putting the boat away, and my other two children and their partners joined us for the evening. Less music was involved, but there was an equally incautious amount of alcohol again compared to the previous night. We've not had the chance to have the family all together since Christmas and it was good to see them all happy and well.

Sunday morning. Two races, the first race starting at 1100. The lake was a popular spot, everybody obviously very keen to get back and the weather playing along beautifully. But there's always plenty of space ashore so no issues with social distancing. It was great to catch up with friends, albeit with all of us doing the 2 meter shuffle, some of whom I'd not seen since Greece and others even before that.

The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and the wind from the east and very, very shifty, but quite light, which made for a much warmer day that the day before. There were 30 boats out on the water, a mix of single and double handers, split into three racing fleets, the largest of which was ours in the general handicap with 19 boats on the line for the first race.

I think we acquitted ourselves respectably, taking a mid-fleet 8th and 9th place. Although we've had her more than a year now, the Albacore is still a very new boat for us, and quite technical with a highly adjustable rig which includes things like shroud tension and mast rake, none of which were ever a concern on the water with our old Enterprise. She's also a fair bit bigger than the Ent and I'm not entirely used to her handling yet, which makes me naturally cautious when around other boats.

But we made no major mistakes, and when we got the rig right, the boat moved beautifully. Despite the mid-fleet result, there's lots of scope still for improvement. And, hopefully, a whole season stretching out ahead for us.

And, as you can possibly tell from the photos accompanying, all of which were stills taken from the GoPro on Sunday, it was an utterly lovely day to be on the water. So much so that, when the racing was all over, we stayed out a little longer and Amanda took the opportunity for a bit of practice at the helm.