Contessa 32 Yacht Racing
I took this weekend off Lady of Lewis to head to Portsmouth for the first race of the Contessa 32 one design class series. It's been two years since I've raced with the Contessa's due to being locked away in a dark room studying for an MBA. Now all of that is finished and I am free to let loose on the fleet once more. What a fantastic weekend it was too!
Forecast was cloudy, rainy, COLD (about 11degrees) and not a lot of wind. What we actually got was glorious sunshine, hot enough that half the crew had stripped down to shorts and t-shirts within an hour of the first race but still not a lot of wind.
Saturday's racing organised by Portsmouth sailing club was a slightly frustrating start due to a couple of postponements and then a move of the course but overall a fabulously organised race, enjoyable and thanks to Zephyrus a pretty challenging day tactically. More spinnaker hoists and drops than a...well lets just say there was a lot of up and down action and leave it there.
The day ended with the traditional pontoon party, this time hosted by George and the crew of Concerto with a typically face melting rum punch. Some highlights and my personal favourite points of the evening included someone (who shall remain nameless) in a Dracula style cape, I assume was stolen from Conspiracy to match their fancy and no doubt brand new (likely very expensive) spinnaker. Closely followed by my own embarrassment at mixing up the Rouse sisters. In my defence they do look incredibly similar particularly with large sun glasses plus after 3 of those rum punches you could be forgiven for mixing up Ellen McArthur and Ben Ainsley!
Sunday saw many wobbly legs and sore heads with most of the fleet feeling distinctly second hand but still managed in Contessa style to have a fabulous and fun race.
My own experience of Sunday was slightly more stressful due to at least three failures in my navigation sending us in the opposite direction to the fleet and at least twice having to just follow the fleet because I had no idea what the mark was. For once we were all thankful we were not leading! Still I quite enjoyed my new role as nav/pit and hopefully will get a bit better of it as we carry on through the season!
Next blog will be back on Lady of Lewis for some serious clear out action to see what the hell is in all of those cabinets!
