Csárdás

1st Race - 30th July

One man down. Choppy, gusty force 4. Number 2 jib, fractional kite.

- Despite leaving three hours before the start we very nearly missed it!

- Might have been a smaller fractional kite, but it still slows the boat down when dragged through the water.

- The Bull doesn’t seem to like sailing up wind in chop. Or maybe we’re doing something very wrong.

- The kite works better flying from the mast than submerged under the keel.

- We persevered with the rest of the course, despite being something like an hour behind everyone else, until we found the penultimate laid mark had been removed! They didn’t even wait for us!

- A kite submerged under the keel makes a very good sea anchor.

- Outcome: retired

2nd Race - 31st July

Less wind promised and with a full crew (joined by Matt) we felt we had a chance to redeem ourselves. Big jib and masthead kite. Got to the start in plenty of time to hear the course more clearly (yesterday lots of confusion over one particular mark). Great start. No problems at all with the kite (we’ve got it well sussed now!). Lots of fun. Crew worked like a team. 32 out of 39. Not bad. We sailed well. Still suffering on the windward legs. Perhaps we should have entered sportsboat class rather than IRC. But a great day out and everyone had fun.

Csardas has a little brother. He’s called Stampede and he’s a Bull 7000 (http://www.bull7000.org.uk). The Bull 7000 is a “sports cruiser”. A sportsboat really but with basic accommodation. DoZ and I have a half share each in this little speed machine which is supposed to reach speeds of over 15 knots. The name is derived from the fact that the boat sports two horns either side of the bow which hold a semi-circular track on which the bow-sprit is able to cant. This means you can cant the pole outboard in order to sail the asymmetric kite deeper down wind.

We took ownership of the boat a couple of weeks ago and have moved it down to Hamble Point where we are storing it ashore on it’s trailer (it has a lifting keel). We have sailed Stampede only twice, fleetingly. Perhaps not really enough preparation for Cowes week which starts tomorrow. Actually we’re just entering the first weekend and the last Saturday. For fun. Last minute work on the boat involving replacing two halyards and a set of clutches while waiting for the trailer to be repaired were prolonged when Dominic somehow managed to pull the mouse line off the new halyard and cause the new halyard to snake right out of the mast and on to the deck. Once the trailer wheels had been put back on we attempted to drop the mast and feed the halyard back in. To no avail. Mast back up. Eventually Ange came to the rescue by agreeing to be hoisted up the mast. All very well in normal circumstances but this was with the boat on the trailer on the hard. Well the boat didn’t topple sideways and the halyard was successfully fed down the mast. Finally by 9pm everything was stowed, last minute safety items were sourced (many borrowed from Csardas) to comply with the rules and all ready for an early morning start tomorrow. No quick shake down sail this evening as was orginally hoped for. We really are winging it.

So last minute was all this that we only entered the event a couple of days ago and our racing pack etc is still in Cowes. Mark from Michael Schmidt & Partners kindly called his mate from IPC on the PBO rib over in Cowes and got him to pick up our kit and he will find us on the water tomorrow and throw it over. Oh, and at 5.15pm Quantum Sails very understaninglt agreed to make us the obligatory sail number dodger and have it ready for 6pm!

Yes, organised or what!? Well here goes nothing …

Marcus