The one that got away!
Though light winds and some wet forecasts, the delivery Friday across turned out to a very pleasant motor-sail with sun and a light breeze. On the way back almost no wind but flat water allowing us cross with a speed of 6.5 + knots. Now for a brief description of what turned out to be a three race series with Severn, Bangalore, and Ranja vying for the Severn’s Bell Trophy.
In the first race on Saturday, Severn took what appeared to be the favoured start pin end of the line and well ahead of the other two who preferred to start nearer the boat end. Our patience finally paid off as we took the other competitors to windward to reach the weather mark first. Covered our way downwind to the leeward gate and maintained a comfortable lead. But as we approached the mark, we had problems getting the jib up and the spinnaker down due to some halyard problems which allowed the Bangalore & Ranja to get to windward of us and ahead until we got control of our sails. We clawed our way back on the second downwind, overtaking Ranja and for a while Bangalore, but Bangalore had the angle and beat us over the finish. Though the comeback was reassuring, we felt we should have had won this one, but it wasn’t in the cards. The second & third races didn’t happen when the wind dropped to nothing, so the fleet was sent back early and all that that means on a hot day with the beer tent open and ready for our business.
The next day the winds were up. Severn started with a no 2 genoa and gained a controlling start on the other two and even forcing Ranja off at the start boat. We got Bangalore, but Ranja proved to be a tougher nut, even after having to start nearer the committee boat. So when she didn’t tack over, we did so, taking her stern, knowing that we had all overstood the windward mark, which by the time Ranja tacked we were clear ahead and now leading. We continued to lead on the downwind leg, and with the winds diminishing slightly we went for the no 1 heavy, but after making the change on deck, it appeared that there was something still wrong with our halyards. The jib was a bitch to get up, taking three to deal with the problems causing a delay in getting the spinnaker down. By the time we got things under control, the other two had caught us again and got ahead. We got back into the race, overtaking Ranja who had to do a 360, but still finishing behind Bangalore even though we closed the gap downwind. So close in fact Bangalore touched our spinnaker with her boom causing us to issue a protest.
I guess we were still reeling from the disappointment of the last race, as our start in the third and final race, was less then aggressive allowing Ranja to squirt ahead of both Bangalore and ourselves. We battled Bangalore up wind, but we couldn’t quite get her, beating us to the windward mark. We closed the gap downwind, but couldn’t get ahead. We engaged in some tacks upwind, but couldn’t achieve the lever, and in the end we had to settle for third and dependent on the outcome of our protest from the other race. However, our protest was disallowed, as the ruling was that Bangalore in trying to avoid the obstacle of some port boats, she couldn’t avoid her contact with Severn. Bangalore won the regatta, Severn was second and Ranja third.
Despite all of this we had a good time at the Regatta, taking in all the social activities over the three days. We anticipate we’ll have a better time of it on the race course at LYRA and the NAs over the next two weeks.
Mackenzie Financial
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