Hardly any pictures from race II which blew 25kts and we sailed with our #1 headsail (never again). Great downwind hitting 10kts but funnily enough horrible upwind to a respectable 53rd (funny getting that result and looking backwards at the 70 boats you beat - also was 4/22 in class).
Next race was lighter. We were on an off the spinnaker on the first leg then deep and light with our heavy wind kite up on the second then a steady upwind. I argued John into some tactical mistakes (I get jumpy, and want to do things to improve the situation and in this race should have kept quiet) but we sailed smooth and fast for the conditions with a lot of good communication on board to come in a respectable 29th (3rd in class).
Best Recipe This Year
A sliced lemon added the little zing to the hot rum the previous race's batch had missed (I'd gone with ginger the previous race but either didn't put enough in or it was stale or something).
Ingredients (enough for one Hot Rum per crew with 9 people on board):
- 96oz apple cider
- 2 teaspoon all spice
- Cinnamon sticks, 3-4
- 1 thinly sliced lemon
- 3 tart apples studded with cloves (~12 cloves per apple)
- A cup of brown sugar
- Boil for about 30 minutes until the apples are mushy then decant into a very good thermos so it's still hot when you mix with rum to taste at the end of the race.
Photos from DaWoody (or look at all 1700 of his pictures)
Started at the pin end and raised a kite as soon as we could to get separation.
Not quite holding the kite as the wind shifted back left. Think that;s Jonathan's shadow at the bow ready for headsail up.
Dropped kite to make the first mark
Long slow downwind with the wrong kite up
Reaching to Mark III - Light and Tight
Back upwind
Looking for a lane to tack into and finish
And finishing
Hot Rum is fun because you can do lots of tweaking... Nutmeg? Ginger? Paprika? Mix butter and sugar in at the last moment for something different (or go down the hot buttered rum route). Sooo many options to try over the years.
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