I was sailing onboard "Salamander XVIII" with John Corson and team. The coarse was a windward leeward with a separate finish line. The breeze was around 20-30kts (hard to give accurate information as our wind instruments had pack up). The blustery southerly breeze coming off the Gourock shore. The start line was off the Kilcreggan pier with a heavy bias to starboard and the windward mark was just off the Royal Gourock Yacht Club. H.W 1200hrs on Saturday.

Saturday

Race 1

The first start was delayed and we eventually got away using the No3 and full main. After having problems getting the No3 up, we chased off after the fleet across to the Gourock shore. We started off using the settings for the No3 from the Cove weekend and worked from there. As we approached the windward mark on port, we had pulled back and rounded just behind the X43. We hoisted the Asymmetric and blasted off downwind. We found that when using this sail as a heavy spinnaker, its easier to just gybe it like a normal spinnaker and don't bother with the tack line. With a jam on the pre-feeder as we hoisted the No3, a rapid change to the No4 was required as we neared and rounded the leeward mark. The No4 and full main was very comfortable up the next beat and found we could get the same speed as using the No3. We held our position to the windward mark and took off downwind with the .75oz spinnaker. This time we reached 15kts boat speed just before we gybed for the leeward mark. We used the No4 again up the next beat and finished 1st.

Race 2

The next race saw the breeze increase and become a lot gustier off the Gourock shore. This made the in balance on the No4 and full main more noticeable but by easing the sheets slightly we found the speed became more consistent and height was determined by the gust anyway. We started well and made our way over to the Gourock shore. Rounded just behind the X43 again and went off downwind with the .75oz. A problem in hoisting the spinnaker on the last run allowed the X43 to beat us on time and we finished 2nd.

Sunday

The start area was off Cove with a short line and much shorter course than Saturday. This would mean that good crewing and boat handling would be the order of the day. The breeze looked about 20kts from the south-west and looking like it would build. The course would be windward leeward with 3 windward legs with a separate finish line. H.W at 1300hrs.

Race 1

We decided we would go with the No4 jib and full main. Started well but struggled to get the speed from the No4 upwind we were looking for. We rounded the top mark just behind the X43 and shot off down wind with the .75oz. The breeze picked up on the downwind leg, so we decided not to change to the No3. The X43 got into problems at the leeward mark and had to retire. We sailed the next beat with the No4 but towards the middle of that leg the breeze dropped again to around 20kts. We struggled in the short chop to reach our numbers. Our lack of speed cost us by being caught from behind by "C Thyme", an Elan 37, and we finished 2nd.

Race 2

The next race was in a little fresher breeze around 25kts and we went with the No3 and full main off the start line at the pin end. To start with, we had to slack a halyard tension on the No3 and our numbers were poor. We tacked to adjust the halyard and immediately we were back on the pace. We rounded the top mark just behind the Elan 37. We hoisted the .75oz spinnaker and took off after them sailing lower and faster than they could in that breeze. As the wind picked up we closed the gap and during a gybe the Elan broached and we took the lead. Up the next beat the breeze stayed up over 25kts so we worked on improving our numbers using the No3. We found that at times we were over sheeting and a more relaxed approach was quicker. We sailed through a nice area of flat water and reached our best upwind speed of 7.5kts but our average was 7.1kts in the chop. We lead to the finish and opened up our lead to finish 1st.

Race 3

The last race had a very port end bias on the line. With about 1 minute to go it became extreme as the wind freshened and went more to the south. We started at the pin end, tacked shortly afterwards and were just short of the lay line. The breeze must have been up to around 30kts and we were really motoring upwind with the main fully bladed. Our average speed crept up to 7.2kts. We lead round the top mark ready for a real YA HOO time down the next leg. The Asymmetric was used for the biased downwind leg. We flew down towards the leeward mark not quite reaching the speed we had set the day before but who was looking! The race officer decided to stop our fun and shortened at the top of the next leg. We held onto our lead and finished 1st and 1st overall.

I was happy with the boat performance, especially when the breeze really kicked in. Upwind it allowed us to find some very useful gears for the future. The courses were short and full of action for everyone on board, with an average race time of 45 minutes. Downwind, I really wanted bigger waves to really push the boat on.

The weekend racing was good fun and really nice to sail in a decent breeze again with the boat reaching its best speeds to date.

Happy Sailing

John Highcock.