I suppose it could be said that late is better than never so here it is your belated race report from Race 4 of the Challenge Series, Sometimes things are so painful that you hope, with time, its memory will be softened, but with Race 4 it still remains a painful memory.
Several of us arrived early having matched raced in the morning. Around 11am the heavens let loose and it poured down rain. Spurred on by a few bystanders Lucy was encouraged to have a Bloody Mary. With it still pouring teams began calling their partners to confer about the race. Howard noticed a certain spring in Lucy’s step after speaking with Carlyon. They were canceling, and it was time for another Bloody Mary. One by one the soaked teams showed up intrepidly looking at the sky. Jun who had no crew was hopeful to find one. But, by 1pm with the sky still pouring, Charles and Lucy had both had “made other plans”. Meanwhile Martin showed up with 10kg of sausages all ready for the evening sizzle wondering how he would eat all of them if there were no sizzle. Still the heavens poured rain. The RO delayed the start until 3, with the bar full of sailors embibbing. Finally around 2pm the rain stopped, and with no wind we rigged the boats and set out for HungHum.
A hopeful big triangle, small sausage, small triangle course was chosen. At 3pm there was a postponed start having no wind and an outgoing tide with many boats drifting across the line. One was even towed.. the eventual winner. Finally the seven FF15s got a start on a modest seven knot breeze. It was a single beat to the top mark with all the boats competitively close. Rounding the top most boats ventured to TaiTak. Ciara choose the middle and posted a big gain on the leaders, JJ and Prof P. Then someone switched off the wind. Faint ribbons of breeze skirted on the water providentially favoring some and cursing others. Wisely, a finish was set at Dock Buoy, the end of the wing leg. Yup, that’s right, the race was one big, lazy, triangle. JJ and Howard were the clear winners, followed by Prof P gaining on the lead spot for the Series. Then came Marianna portaging Martin and his sausages. Damien and a visting friend were an unofficial 4th followed by Suzanne and Di in and unofficial 5th as both are regular helms. Then came Ciara and Joe in an Offical 4th followed by Bill and Ishi, the other hot contender for the Series.
The big news, and some say surprise, was the sizzle. It was a smashing hit organized by Martin. The fat sausages tasted great. Everthing was cooked on Ishi’s official FF15 stove by Martin and Marianna. Great time with no rain.
This weekend is the last race in the series which is now completely up for grabs. Bill, the Professor, Marainna, and JJ all have shots at the top.