Once inside the club we find that Pat [SF] is still damaged after last week race, the fetlock has not repaired, should he be put down we ask? But he says he can sail if he takes on a soft job in the lounge room as main trimer. Lets see how he fares. This means Lady Commodore must step up to helm duty, rare for a Saturday race. Lets see how she fares.
As we approach the start the starter raises the flag that indicates a change, Anne decides to start both fleets at once, this should be fun.
There are no issues with the start, with SF taking off, closely followed by AOE, Resurgent, and LOEG.
Having sailed at PRSC for over 30 years this race was one of the most enjoyable I have ever participated in. The breeze never blew as anticipated, and all the big boys all sailed with Jibs which gave us a chance to hold on to them today. Tacking duels up the river on every work were great to participate in with Resurgent, crossing either our tuck or bow by millimeters regularly and had us working our guts out to stay in touch.
The down river runs created the same competition with LOEG, Resurgent and us within metres of each other back up the river. SF despite their crew in different roles for the day had shown their usual superior boat speed and had cleared out by this stage.
As we approached the last mark it was all about tactics as the 3 of us were within 10 seconds of each other. The cunning character skippering LOEG approached from a wide angle allow him to round the mark with speed and take off for the home sprint, leaving Resurgent and AOE in their wake.
On a tack from the buoy, Resurgent had a problem which slowed their tack, and allowed the battlers on AOE hold on for the 3rd placing on scratch, and a happy ending on handicap for the day.
Thank you all, Division 1, for a great race today.
Scribe AOE.