We certainly got off to a pretty brisk start to our autumn league. Having poured over the many web sites who have a guess at what the elements might throw at us, the Inshore Committee boat crew felt that 25k from the SW was about the worst we could expect. Being "inshore" we also felt that sea conditions with the wind from that direction should not be too hazardous.
Having selected a course that would give a two-hour race for the leaders we hoisted the first flag in a nice 20k breeze. All classes behaved very well for the starts, with the exception of the oldest class in these waters, who barged and pushed each other over the line resulting in a General Recall.
The expectation that maybe considering the age and recent experience in this class there might be a modicum of caution, in what where reasonably testing conditions, was thrown to the wind. Black flag however, did the business and off they went.
Very soon winds had increased to 25k gusting to 30k so instead of having a relaxing coffee after the nail biting 30 minutes we decided that maybe 2 hours of hardship might just be too much for some of the fleet.
Despite my desire to get my own back on the demons who had upset the routine and leave them battling out there as long as possible we decided to shorten and leave out the last sausage for the seventeen's.
The other classes appeared to be coping well despite occasional gusts now up to 35k. A rib under the command of Dave Potter was dispatched to finish the seventeen's at the West mark.
I was alerted by phone that one boat had lost its mast but that there was no immediate danger. Communication on the inshore VHF Channel 69 would probably have given us a better feel for the situation and enabled us to respond more appropriately.
Our first finishers arrived on schedule after 2 hours and all finished by 1230. We spotted another 17 in trouble near the spit bank and dispatched a rib to assist the boat, which had broken her boom.
We had just arrived back in the Marina when Rupert called me to say that Kinetic had a problem East of the Stack and off we went again in salvage mode.
Blowing stink now and really big seas past the stack. Kinetic had a broken mast step and the crew were worried that the pounding might put a hole in bottom.
Their engine decided to sulk in sympathy with the mast so the faces on board brightened up somewhat on our arrival.
Sea Wych
The crew told us that they had waved frantically at another boat motoring home, who responded with a friendly wave back. "Sea Wych" carved another notch in her bow (3 rescues so far) and we finally made it to the bar before all the drink was gone!
