SCSC: Sunday racing; autumn

Weather has definitely taken a turn for the autumnal. Leaves are now more a carpet in the street than a cloak on the branches of the trees. But they're still fresh fallen enough to retain a certain amber crispness that lends itself well to the autumn light.

Driving home from the gig at the Railway Tavernon Saturday night was through thick fog. Fireworks are already going off in anticipation of November 5th.

There's definitely a chill in the wind. Sunday was the first day since spring I wore a wetsuit on the lake. Three races in the GP14, two in the morning with Amanda, one in the afternoon with Alex. 

The start of the first race was a bit of a disgrace; I was about thirty seconds late to the line and at the wrong end. But our sailing then made up for it, and we climbed back through the fleet in the light conditions to take a 3rd out of the 13 boats racing.

Start of the second race was excellent. Crossed the line at speed at the favoured pin end just as the gun went. Boat was pointing beautifully, forcing the windward boats to tack off early and clear our wind. The only boat ahead of us got caught in an awkward shift and essentially parked on the windward mark, so we were first around.

The rest of the fleet followed close behind, now spoiling our air on the deep run to the leeward mark. Where it all went wrong. Talking spinnakers, we've got the hoist nailed, the drop is sweet and even the gybes are getting there. Gybe and drop clearly needs practice though. 

We didn't hit anybody, by the time we'd untangled ourselves, most of the fleet had ridden over us, and our spinnaker sheets had dropped over the bow.

In our favour, things still go wrong, but we've got a lot quicker at recognising the problems and fixing them. We got quickly back into the race, and clawed our way back to a respectable mid-fleet finish with a 5th.

Alex swapped in for Amanda for the third race, a forty-five minute afternoon pursuit, and first of the new series. Despite a bit of a rush getting back on the water, Alex and I timed a good start, quickly caught and overhauled the one slower boat that was ahead of us, then stayed easily clear of the rest of the fleet for the remaining duration, finishing with a 1st.