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Carl Dyson Yacht Regatta
2000
I travelled up to Edinburgh for the weekend
of October 7th/8th to race aboard Malcolm and Hilda Blyth's
X-332 Blyth Spirit. Based at Port Edgar Yacht Club, four races
were held over the weekend in conditions ranging from four knots
of wind with rain on Saturday to 20 knots with sunshine on Sunday.
We left the dock at midday on Saturday to allow plenty of time
for a sail prior to the 1pm start. The racing area was near
the Forth bridges and for the first race the committee set a
beat to a mark near the rail bridge followed by a run back down
past the road bridge. After a good start we had excellent speed
on the beat and rounded the windward mark in second place behind
the one tonner Absolutely, with the Davidson 36 Hops close behind.
Down the run we had a close battle with the higher rated Hops
who finished just ahead on the water. With a dying breeze the
race was shortened to just two legs and we secured a second
on handicap behind Absolutely with the Mustang 30 Rockin Horse
in third.
With more breeze for the second race Blyth Spirit was flying
upwind with her Checkmate Kevlar Sport Mainsail and Checkmate
Kevlar Medium Heavy No.1. This time we took the win, followed
by Absolutely and Rockin Horse, leaving us as joint overnight
leaders alongside Absolutely.
After a serious Saturday night of partying with a live band
at the Marina, a few of the crew looked a bit the worse for
wear on Sunday. One particular crewman who I had better not
name was feeling so bad that before the start that he cast off
the Genoa sheet in a tack when we didn't even have a headsail
up!
For the first race on Sunday the breeze was around 10 knots
and we were sent off on a long beat. After passing the GPS position
of the windward mark it became apparent that it was missingþ
Oooops! The race was abandoned, so it was back to the start
area to try again. The committee laid an inflatable mark and
restarted the race at 11am, an hour after the first start. Absolutely
caught us out on the start line resulting in us having to perform
a 720! Not a good start to the day. By the end of the race however
we had clawed our way back and managed another win, with Hops
second and the First 30ES Jezebel in third.
After a break for lunch the last race of the regatta was scheduled
to start at 2pm. At about 1.45pm the wind suddenly picked up
to around 20 knots - time to think about a change to the No.3!
Looking up the track, however, it seemed likely to moderate
and we started with the No.1 which was a good choice as the
wind eased off to around 13 knots. Later in the race another
line of breeze came through which caused some excitement on
a tight spinnaker reach. We opted for a bear headed drop "just
get the kite downþ" as others broached whilst attempting to
hoist Genoas. After three laps of the large triangular course,
Hops had just sneaked far enough ahead to pip us on corrected
time for the race win with Absolutely in third. With one discard
this left Blyth Spirit scoring 4 points for the regatta to win
from Absolutely (6 points) followed by Hops (7 points). Thanks
to Malcolm, Hilda, Rupert, Jim, Martin, Dave, Bob and Kevin
for a great weekend's racing and socialising!
Hugh Myers,
onboard Blyth Spirit.
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