Laser: creatures of the sun

Wednesday. My car is back on the drive, and I'm relieved I paid off our mortgage last month, as it made the sting of the mechanic's bill just a little bit easier to bear.

I'm back under blue sails this evening, having agreed to crew for my friend Geoff again in his Enterprise at Frampton; his regular crew, Sue, still being elsewhere engaged. Much as I love South Cerney, Frampton is much more convenient for a Wednesday evening race, being only twenty minutes down the road from home.

South Cerney is more like thirty-five, which is a difference of only fifteen minutes each way, of course. But it's funny how much of an impact losing thirty minutes in the car can have on a mid-week evening.

Besides, Geoff and the Frampton mob are good company. With regards to South Cerney, there are another 13 races left in their Hotdogs series and I only need another four to qualify, so I can afford to skip a few weeks to sail with a friend.

I was going to crew for Geoff again last Wednesday, but he's been struggling with a bit of an early summer cold and had to cry off. So last week I took the extra half an hour's commute in the car on the chin and raced the Laser around the cans at South Cerney instead. 

The video at the top is of the starting sequence last Wednesday, from the initial three minute warning, up to where I tacked off onto port on the first crucial beat up to the windward mark. It was the most interesting clip out of the hour long video the GoPro recorded, because there were still plenty of other boats around. 

I did manage to make it around the windward mark first, but then got caught up by Gary in his RS300 and Nicola in her Aero, and spent the rest of the race essentially playing tag with them. I beat them both in the end on handicap, my boat being theoretically much slower than either of theirs, but wrapped up in our game of tag, we all got beaten in turn by Jonny and his crew in his GP14.

It was fun though. I'm not particularly enjoying the wind at the moment, it's generally too light and, settled uncharacteristically in the north east, horribly inconsistent and shifty. However, I am otherwise very much enjoying the weather. The temperatures have consistently been reaching the high 20's for the last few weeks, and I am most definitely a creature of the sun.