RN7: How to ignore your own advice

The sailing season has finally started, and with a bang! Autumn Regatta this weekend, and after being depressed for most of the week about the forcast 0 to 2 knot westerly, I was pleasantly surprised by a variable 0 to 8 knot breeze on Saturday, which increased to around 10-15knots for a two race blast on Sunday.

Westerly winds are pretty rare in the harbour, and most of the accepted ideas about what to do go out of the window. Coupled with this, we were racing on the plateau of an odd diurnal tide pattern that meant the tide was fairly slack for most of the day - so it often became about finding a band of pressure and staying in it.

TIde Patterns, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong Harbour - www.hko.gov.hk

We didn't have a spectacular event, but there were a few moments of note. Firstly, most of the mark roundings were to starboard, meaning that you could barrel in shouting for your rights, but it was more often an exercise in risk management. Especially in the light winds of Saturday, starboard didn't mean much if the guys on port couldn't get out of the way! I had to make this call at one point - starboard to four Etchells who had just rounded and were going nowhere, or carry on? I carried on and had to turn back downind to the upwind mark - I should have seen the problem earlier and not put myself in that position.

Sunday's heavier winds were fantastic fun. Especially the second race, where we were planing consistently downwind - a fairly unusual occurance in Hong Kong, and something I haven't had a great deal of experience with. Fleet management was much more an issue when planing, as you had to think much further ahead than usual and at greater speeds to prevent yourself being stuffed to windward and broaching and/or forced to leeward and falling off the plane by the boats in front. Both were slow!

Annika looking casual downwind. I'm at the back, screaming. (c) Guy Nowell/RHKYC

Still, we had excellent speed downwind, but there is still work to be done upwind. We weren't helped by being at least 80kg underweight, but I was the main culprit - completely ignoring what I wrote about last week (RN6) and also experienced at the similarly heavy wind 2010 Spring Regatta. Also known as - take the inside of the bend! I went right up the beat and forgot about the wind bend you get around North Point. As I was constantly being lifted, it felt great, but everbody inside me sailed a much shorter course and disappeared. All our downwind theatrics were a little wasted...

A great weekend though, and a couple of good photos, including a brief appearance on the front page of the SCMP. Yes, that's my mast on the extreme left.

Front page of the SCMP 20th September 2010.

Tack Tracker link is here - we're the one without a name (pink I think). Not all the Sportsboats fleet seem to have handed in their tracker.

Results (don't look...)