Laser: Icebreaker

The official racing season started again at South Cerney this last weekend with a trophy race. Coinciding with the clocks springing forward for Daylight Saving into BST and robbing me of an hour of sleep.

Which I felt but didn't initially fathom, because all the clocks in my life these days, be that my phone, my computer, my wristwatch or even the clock on the office wall, all update themselves automatically.

So I just dragged myself out of bed after about 4 hours sleep on the Sunday morning and wondered why I still felt bleary. Then, having thrown myself into the shower to shock myself fully awake, grabbed my kit, got into the car to head down to the club for a sail.

I should add, the clock in the car does not automatically update itself, but I habitually ignore that, because it means it's therefore only right for half the year.

The days leading up to the weekend had been positively summery; bright sun, and the temperature on Friday afternoon touched 20°c if my car is to be believed, and whilst I don't trust the clock, it's an otherwise very reliable vehicle. But Sunday, whilst not cold, was dull and overcast.

Blowing from the north-east, the wind was coming from an unusual direction, the opposite of prevailing, and whilst it was typically shifty and backed gradually across the day, the velocity was steady at around 10 knots with the occasional gust, but no significant lulls, so you could reliably hike out against it without any great risk of a sudden dunking.

Which, with a standard rig and 10 knots in a Laser, I pretty much have to do continuously when beating to windward.

The day was made of up four races, two back to back in the morning, followed by lunch ashore, followed by two back to back in the afternoon. 16 boats rigged to sail in the morning. Not a huge turnout by the club's standards, but enough for a fun gathering.

I got off to a promising start, winning the first race easily. The second race began well enough, although the leading pair of Solos gave me more trouble this time around and I couldn't quite break clear. And then, stupidly, I accidentally dropped the tiller extension as I was hardening up around one of the leeward marks on the penultimate lap of the course. 

Before I got the boat back under control, I'd hit the mark and then found myself facing back down the course, blithely sat on said mark and head to wind, as the rest of the pack caught up and overhauled me. I bumped two or three of them before I managed to get the Laser back under control, although as I was all but stationary, there was no damage to either me or any of the other boats that had decided to sail through me rather than around. 

The racing rules state that if you hit a mark of the course, you've got to take a 360° penalty turn, which equates to a tack and a gybe, or a gybe and a tack. If you hit or unfairly impede another competitor (but no damage is done) then you have to take a 720° penalty. I'm pretty certain however that penalties are not cumulative, as long as all the impacts happen before you get to take your turns, otherwise I reckon I'd still be out there taking my penalties now, and getting very dizzy in the process.

In any case, my clumsy inelegance was enough to set me back firmly into the middle of the pack and so I finished an inglorious 7th.

Lunch was a very welcome cup of tea and a baked potatoes topped with chilli from the galley. Which, because I'd essentially overslept earlier that morning, doubled up as breakfast.

In both the races that followed, I managed to finish first on the water, but the leading Solo and the GP14 gave me a more than fair run for my money, in each case pushing me down into 3rd place after our times had been adjusted for our respective handicaps. The fourth race in particular was especially close, with a mere 2 seconds of adjusted time between me and Jonny and Monty in their GP14, who took 2nd place.

Which, allowing for the discard, much needed after the fun and games of the second race, put me in 3rd place overall for the day.

So, a four race day; just under four and a half hours on the water, and a total of 16.4 nautical miles sailed. Which, amusingly, is almost the same time and distance it would take to sail Calstar from Portishead to Cardiff.

Not a bad start to the season.