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East Coast Sailing Week,
Scotland
After a rather hair-raising crossing
of the North Sea from Denmark (F10) and escort by the life boat
into Blyth harbour, we arrived at Dundee on Friday evening last
week.
Our first race on Sunday, with a scratch crew, took us up river
and under the Tay road bridge. After a slight navigational problem,
we managed to claw our way back to second place. Not a bad start!
On Monday we had two short races, both on a similar inshore
course. Heavy currents in the estuary forced boats onto short
tacks up the beach, calling for tacks at 2m depth when the sand
only seems an easy leap away, which is quite startling! We managed
a first and a second this day.
Tuesday was greeted with light winds and after a couple of hours
the organizers decided to abandon racing for the day. Needless
to say it resulted in water fights between the boats and we
ended up losing our most experienced crew member due to him
twisting his ankle in the activities.
Wednesday was the Duke of Edinburgh offshore race. After a poor
start, we managed to haul in our nearest rivals through a combination
of good sailing and clever tactics. By three-quarters distance
we were in the overall lead. On the last beat up river to the
finish, the wind picked up and despite putting a reef in the
main sail, we were overhauled by some of the heavier boats.
I could have really done with a number two jib at this wind
speed (18-22 true). We ended up fourth overall and second in
our class.
Thursday's format was for two windward-leeward courses. Again
close tacking up the beach was the order of the day. We managed
a first in the morning but damaged a crew member's head on the
pre-start of the second race and retired immediately to have
him checked by the paramedics. Happily after a quick visit to
casualty he was deemed fit and healthy despite a large lump
on the back of his head along with two stitches. The bump seemed
to have done him a power of good as his jokes were now funny!
Last race on Friday. We made a late start on the line but following
that the crew worked perfectly. We hauled in the fleet to a
first place finish, only to be disappointed when a port/starboard
protest was upheld against us due to my inexperience at protest
meetings.
Fourth overall for the week counting a Did Not Finish was the
net result, though we know we should have won!
Malcolm Blyth
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