3rd in Long Race Series

We started yesterdays final race four points behind Kaiulani and one point behind Footloose. With the forecast for strong winds we thought we could make up the deficit, and were looking good to do just that when we rounded the turning mark at Yellow Bluff, well in front of our rivals.

It all turned bad off South Arm when the breeze dropped out, and then started playing tricks. Our rivals, and the rest of the fleet sailed up to us, and we were unable to get away and put enough time into them when the breeze filled in shortly before the finish.

Second over the line, and second last on time. I hope the combined clubs sailing managers, in there pre-season review for next season, recognise that some of the outcomes in our division this year suggest that there are some boats that don't fit in our division.

Compared to the racing we had in 9 Metre division, which was always close with evenly matched boats, the new Group 2 for long races is a bit of a dogs breakfast. Well done to Footloose which is always sailed flat out and well, and deserves its consistently good results. Some others I don't know about as we are never close enough to see them.

Trouble still in Harbour Series contention

Some great sailing and crew work saw Trouble push back into contention for a Harbour Series win today. First across in both races saw us pull back three points against series leader Young Lion, who now leads us by only one point going into the final race in three weeks time.

The crew has been settled long enough to be really working well together, and as in the Crown Series, our crew work is second to none. When the skipper doesn't make too many mistakes we are hard to beat in just about any conditions. Its intense, close, and very satisfying sailing!

Long Race Series

Hmmm, everyone has sunk into a deep and abiding depression after Saturday, eh?  After the Skipper (Dave the Rave) revving us up (yeah, both of us) about keeping the blog alive, I thought that I'd have  an inbox full today.  Nuffing.  Well, after a deep breath, I looked at the results at BYC tonight.  Eleventh.  Fookin 'ell, I thought, that's the end of that.  But no, we are in 3rd, only 4 points away from Kaiulani.  All is not lost.  We just need one good race to finish off, and Kaiulani to sink or something.  And Footloose to become fancy free and bugger off out of it... So chin up fellas!! Doug

Happy Troublemakers

The Trouble crew celebrating after the results were announced. Things got silly after this and the skipper, being a vice free man, went home!

It was a great weekend, guys.  Simon, a real shame that you couldn't be there - we sailed hard and had a truckload of fun as well.  Doesn't get any better than that!  As Dave the Sage said, it's moments like these that are to be savoured and reflected upon with great pleasure.  These moments may not come along very often...
My arms have returned to their normal length, I am pleased to advise.  Was a bit stiff and sore yesterday, but probably not as bad as Simon's bum by the sound of it...  Will be out on the bike again later today and hopefully it will not be raining.  Got wet enough on Saturday.
A highlight for me too was the crew work over the weekend.  It (the crew) was a pretty well-oiled machine on Trouble and it is always great to get a result - we didn't make too many mistakes and when we did we recovered well, which is always very satisfying.
And congratulations again on winning the insurance voucher, Dave.  Always very handy!
Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday and/or Saturday!

Great result in 2015 Crown Series

Well - we did it, but not without a major scare on the final day of the BYC Crown Series. We thought after getting the gun in all five races, and being a mile in front in the last race that we had it sown up. I was certain that we would get an outright in the last race with Footloose 5 minutes and most of the fleet 10 minutes behind us. Bot no! At the presentations we learned that we were third behind L'Etoile and Footloose.

That sent us back to the drawing board re calculations for the series. Mark was assuring me that we would be OK, but I was extremely nervous, having snatched defeat from the jaws of defeat on previous occasions. Our relief when they announced the series winner was loud and obvious to all.

Congratulations to Mark and Phil Millhouse and Doug Barry, and commiserations to Simon Millington who was to be the fifth crew member but was prevented by an untimely illness. The boys that were there did a magnificent job of covering Simon's absence, and still managed, I think, to produce the best crew work in our division, and for all I know, in the regatta. Despite our intensity on the course we manage to have a lot of fun together out there.

I sometimes pause to think, it may never get any better than this., this may, in retrospect, be the highest point in my sailing life. I have reflected on this on many occasions, not wishing to miss the opportunity to really savour the moment. If this is so this time, I am more than content.

The icing on yesterday's cake came during the presentations, when my name was drawn from the barrel to win $750 from Nautilus Marine off my next insurance renewal. I am extremely grateful to Hughie Lewis and Nautilus Marine for this valuable prize. There has never been a time in my sailing career when I have needed it more than right now.

More Andrew Viney photos

Andrew Viney's Trouble Photos

I was looking for old Crown Series photos today and came across about a dozen Trouble photos that Andrew Viney has taken at BYC races this year.

Andrew has a website here where you can find these and lots of other photos available at very reasonable print prices.

One sequence shoes the start of a long harbour race where we started on port next to Young Lion in lots of breeze, and Scott Brain received a little spiritual guidance from the guru of calm!

Harbour & Crown

Yep, going to need an ounce of luck and sail well too for teh rest of the harbour series.  Entries have closed for the Crown Series, so what we see is what we'll get?  Could be interesting.  2 Harbour races on Saturday and 2 Windward Leewards on Sunday may test our (aging) crew infrastructure... Doug

BYC Crown Series

Entries for the Crown Series for Group 2 are still a bit low. Seven, rather than the ten we had heard about. Alibi 2 will be a bit of a wildcard in this group as she hasn't really been performance handicapped against this group before, the rest of whose handicaps are well established as a group.

It is a bit disappointing that a few boats who we might have expected to see in our division, (e.g.Twitch) have elected to sail in cruising divisions. Also no HAN or Young Lion or Rousabout as yet.

(NB - I have added a link to the Crown Series website below on the right hand column.)