Lateron

The forecast delivered as promised yesterday evening. The direction, from the north west, was pretty horrid, but there was plenty of it to play with. The Race Officer clearly had a sense of humour, giving us a running start down through the gap to a starboard rounding at the never used, until last night that is, number 8 mark.

I made the best of it that I could, got clear of the pack and was second around the mark. There was some minor carnage amongst the pile of boats that followed me around a few moments later as another Laser lost control in a gust as they tried to harden up from running by the lee and ploughed into a couple of the other boats that he was supposed to allow room for.

No damage done though, except to the man's pride, and nobody hurt. 

Despite then pulling out ahead of the pack on the beat that followed and staying ahead for the rest of the race, I struggled in some of the heavier guts and didn't manage to break clear enough. I finished with a 5th (out of 14 boats) which is arguably my worst result in the Laser in quite a while. 

Which would be disappointing, except the first and second places were taken by a couple of youngsters in a Topper and a Laser 4.7 respectively, and I love to see the kids at the club doing well. Reckon if I'd rigged the Radial though instead of my full Standard rig, I could've beaten them.

In other news, I got to the club yesterday to discover that my Albacore had been delivered back to her berth, with her mast step repaired. Which is what Paul had said he'd do, but in a world of delays and excuses, it's always a nice surprise to see somebody deliver what they've promised.

The Albacore has been out of commission since 24th April, so it's really nice to have her back. The repairs look good, so I'll put the mast back up this coming Sunday. Her relaunch might have to wait however, as Amanda's come down with Covid this week, so I'll wait until she's fit enough to crew the boat with me before launching her again.