Run out the sweeps!

Hard day of racing yesterday, hardly a breath of wind, which doesn't suit the 'Jade really, so a 1-2-3-4 finish for the speedbumps (Melges) was pretty inevitable.

Not the best start, either. Went for the line a touch early and lost some momentum. On the plus side, I had time to take a quick snap of the fleet...



Despite the fact that this is still the Frostbite series, the sun was out, and shorts were on. The looooooong downwind leg also gave us plenty of time to catch some rays, in between jibes.



7th place, which is pretty respectable considering the conditions.

Third place in the fog

Saturday's race was a cracker, between Herm and Jethou, down to Fermain (not that we could see the coast after the fog came down) and a spinnaker leg to Castle Cornet to finish.


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Here's a snap of us around the back of Jethou.


Taking it pretty casual by the looks of things, in reality, a coiled spring ready for action.

The crew was pretty pleased with the race - what with beating 'arch nemesis' X-celerator over the line and taking third place overall on handicap (sail tie! woo!).

Not that it went all our way. In a pretty unusual bit of weather at Gabriel, the wind died at the mark (only at the mark - was as rough as a night propping up the bar at the Helmsmans everywhere else) leaving us stranded as two chasing boats came steaming up.

Fortunately, we got back underway quicker than the others to beat them over the finish with only the minimum required amount of swearing.

A clean bottom...

No race this week, so the Blue Jade crew decided to take advantage by washing her bottom...


Nice and clean now, and was definitely faster through the water on the way back to the pontoon...