Thursday Club Racing 2026-07-24
23 Jul 2026
Interested to see what the results are like after a successful first race.
Wind was off shore, interesting and changeable. It disappeared as we crossed the start line and all drifted gently towards mark one for several minutes, all trying our best to cover each other somehow. As we cleared the buildings and the wind could reach the sails again, we all began to take off nicely, though seemingly on some kind of close reach...how does that work if the wind was behind us a minute ago!?
The wind maintained its NE direction as we rounded mark one and made for mark two in standard procession, some favouring the straight line, others favouring more wind in the head sail.
After rounding mark two is where it got interesting! The wind built up to around 20kts and felt like it was continually heading us, certainly the original "make it in one" line didn't work out. However; playing the gusts, pinching to maintain stability, and standing on longer than the front boat did see Gecko only need one tack to make the next mark and a finish time quite close to our nearest competitor.
A gentle bear off and quick wrap of the head sail and we were settled and ready to start the engine, drop the main and head back ashore for much needed (by some crew) dinner!
G
Wind was off shore, interesting and changeable. It disappeared as we crossed the start line and all drifted gently towards mark one for several minutes, all trying our best to cover each other somehow. As we cleared the buildings and the wind could reach the sails again, we all began to take off nicely, though seemingly on some kind of close reach...how does that work if the wind was behind us a minute ago!?
The wind maintained its NE direction as we rounded mark one and made for mark two in standard procession, some favouring the straight line, others favouring more wind in the head sail.
After rounding mark two is where it got interesting! The wind built up to around 20kts and felt like it was continually heading us, certainly the original "make it in one" line didn't work out. However; playing the gusts, pinching to maintain stability, and standing on longer than the front boat did see Gecko only need one tack to make the next mark and a finish time quite close to our nearest competitor.
A gentle bear off and quick wrap of the head sail and we were settled and ready to start the engine, drop the main and head back ashore for much needed (by some crew) dinner!
G