We had a mixed weekend of racing in a fleet of 24 finishing in the middle of the fleet. On Saturday we awoke to heavy rains, thunder and shifting winds. All boats sailed with one reef in the main.We had a bad start,as one boat decided to sail aggressively without concern for others who wished to protect tier insurance excess which was up to £3,000.Crossing the start line amongst the last few boats we made good progress upwind even though our main sail had seen better days. The spinnaker hoist at the windward mark was good, however on the downwind leg we became entangled with another racing fleet and lost a lot of time, crossing them, so once again had to play catchup finishing in 21st position.

The second race stated with all boats having reefs in the main and spinnakers optional. Again not a good start and with winds gusting to 30 Knots we did not use the spinnaker, those he did were overpowered and the boat which had been so aggressive in race  one lost its mast. during the upwind leg we attested to par furl the foresail however the furling gear jammed and by the time we had fixed it we were so far behind that we retired.

The third race of the day started with us still making our way to the start line,  we were pleased that our boat speed was good and we crossed the line in 16th.

Sunday racing consisted of two races in much lighter wind, our crew had finally gelled and boat speed was good, with good spinnaker handing we finished 11th in the 4th race a great improvement. Unfortunately at the start of the 5th and final race we miss judged the current and were carried over the line so ended up at he back of the fleet. we made ground upwind to the windward mark and a slick spinnaker launch  carried us to a mid fleet position closing up on a bunch of boats at the leeward gate with good sail trimming. all the boats we making for the starboard mark so at last minute we opted to round the port mark to clear our wind. we then were able to harden up on the wind and sail away from the group. This time the tide became our friend allowing us to lay the line at the committee boat and finish in 6th.

Our overall position for the weekend was 12th which is an improvement over the previous year. Looking to the future we know the way to improve is to have an additional day of sailing prior to the event to practise drills.