Puddleduck Vineyard Racing 29/10/24 DF95

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I have come to think that the actual wind strength at Puddleduck is nearly always about 2 – 5 knots less that what the BOM has predicted. But not today! The forecast was for 15 knots but we had a good 20 in the gusts and at the start of the day some of us began to suit up our B-rigs. By start time most had decided to use the A. Only Phil Turnbull kept with his B-rig and he sailed the whole day with it. The B-rig did work for Phil in a couple of the races and would probably have been the right choice if the wind direction wasn’t Westerly as this meant that it was difficult to set a course with a good upwind beat and downwind the big rigs were flying.

Not surprisingly the rescue dinghy was employed a few times today as buoy hook-ups and standings were common. There were a couple of retirements too. Dave Poon lost his back stay hook after a collision with another boat and Andrew Thomas had rudder servo issues. Bodge kindly let Andrew sail his boat for most of the day. There does seem to be a bit of a spate of rudder servo failure at the moment. Perhaps it is due to the fact that we have been sailing races in plenty of wind which often leads to water egress in the hull. A bit of an oil spray is probably a good idea.

Only two points separated the top three overall today with Trout taking third place, back today after a couple of weeks holiday in Coolangatta. John Penman took second spot. I reckon that John will soon become one of the big guns of the sport in Hobart as he only began sailing a couple of months ago and is already challenging the leaders.

And today’s winner was ‘The Sheep’ – Dave Woolley. I think that this was Dave’s first ever overall event win and well deserved too as in recent weeks he has been consistently challenging for a slice of the lead. Congratulations Dave, John and Trout.

As for myself I shook my head in disbelief when I found that after winning three races I still finished in the back half of the fleet! It shows the importance of not finishing badly in races – but this is easier said than done as everybody is getting pretty good now.

As we had completed out quota of ten races a bit early we finished the day with a three lap scratch start special. Lisa had turned up to watch the last few races and was quick to accept the controls of a boat on loan. After missing the first buoy and having to unwind herself she sailed from the back of the fleet to win the race from Trout. And just to prove that his form today was no fluke Sheep came in a close third.

It is so nice to be sailing in warmer conditions.

Shorty

 

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