Our weekend started with a leisurly trip to Bristol to kip over with Phil & Sarah.
On Saturday morning the van struggled over the Severn Bridge (new) and strained along the M4 into the howling wind. Arriving at Corus we looked at the frankly unappealing lake (Southern Ocean for models) and got rigging.
The start was a bit of a shambles frankly, we were glad to be upright and downwind of the line when the gun went, but any other tactical issues seemed very secondary.
It was properly howling, and the strategy was: bang the right, wait for something approximating a lull, bang in a tack and hope to be not too high on the layline as white water reaching was completely out of the question. For the first few legs we wussed out of using the kite, and found a cheeky little lull out left to gybe in. On the final run we could see Stanley hooning about and it seemed a limp not to join in the fun. Epic downwind pace, and a successful gybe gave us 1st in that race.
In the second race the breeze had built more, and the lulls were much more deadly. There was unbeleivably close quaters sailing off the start, given the wind strength but the race to the windward mark was won by the boat upright for the longest (Slippy). Antidote had one capsize after another in the big lulls and shifts as crew & helm got more and more tired. We managed to keep going right till the very last leeward mark were a messy capsize mean we drifted 2m too far and ended up in the marsh with no hope of righting and sailing off. Time for the rescue boat to lend a hand.
Strangley ended the first day in the lead by simple expedient of finishing both races: full mark to the Neyland Boys.
With Stanley's rig in 2 parts, and Slippery's bow fitting looking a bit ropey it was back to Bristol for some overnight garage engineering and a Pizza.
In the morning it was blowing a hooley in Bristol, but we threw caution to the winds and set off back along to COrus (van starting to make some slightly alarming noises by now).
On arrival ,it was dead calm. Spoooky! The wind blew a bit from the south, then the north, then not at all, then from the north again.
The club ran a mass handicap race starting at 10.30 in aid of the Lifeboats, which was remarkable only for the fact that every single leg was a reach of some description (OK, I exaggerate, we tacked twice) and that the start and every mark rounding was accompanied by really loud shouting from the visiting enterprise sailors!
It was then in for lunch and out again for three very short windward leeward races, with the addition of a 505 (on rescue the day before), a second Laser 4000 and the RS800 who had decided not to brave the maelstrom the day before. Not the most exciting racing in the world, but challenging enough with the need to really watch for every tiny shift and spot of pressure, and to keep the way on in all the manoevers. Classic inland saiing I guess.
All in all a very challenging but enjoyable weekend, and the poor van may well be going to the knackers yard after the meal it made of getting home.
