18/08/2026
Day 3, Tuesday.
More wind today, from the west. Starting off at 12-15 mph, and gradually rising to the middle of the second race at about 18-20mph.
The tide was flooding fast to the south, so we had a short postponement while Bryan and Jenny the Race Officers repositioned the windward marks to better align with the tide. The start saw most of the fleet shooting down the line with the tide on starboard, while Croc hung around on port, just stemming the tide, and crossed behind everyone to take the port tack, staying up tide, first. This tactic paid nicely, and they were first around the mark and off down wind in the lead. But the end of the second beat saw Silver Fox and Squffy overtake them on the shifts right on the mark. We were sailing a figure 8 course, so this leg took us back on a broad reach into the tide back to the starting area. So we headed for Skylark... only to realise that Skylark had moved to check on the course... so we quickly (some boats quicker than others!) had to revert to the correct buoy.
The second lap saw Croc slipping past Squffy on the beat and almost catching the Silver Fox. The next run, and a whistle blowing, flag waving, safety boat meant a moved leeward mark - so we all headed to the yellow mark, rather than the original orange ones... until realising the yellow buoy was still attached to the back of Skylark! So we reverted once more to the correct one. Then, on the final reach in 15mph winds, Croc kept trying to plane up the back of Silver Fox, but every time they went for the overtake to windward, a smart luff from Jimmy drove them back again... but in doing this the boats had worked their way to windward of the plumb line, and with 50 yards to go, Croc bore away onto a dead run and headed for the other end of the line. The race officers declared it a dead heat! with Squffy about 10 seconds behind. Ruby had finally managed to pull away from the improving Spring Maid to take 4th.
The 2nd race was the same course, in a bit more wind - hard work! Off the start, Silver Fox was first to tack onto port, and they were away and in the lead to the finish. Sometimes they were 50 yds away, sometimes 5yds! It all depended who got the better shift, or the correct position for the final tack into the windward marks. Croc and Squffy also stayed in 2nd and 3rd to the finish, sometimes closing right up, but never quite changing the order. At the finish, Croc had a superb lift and closed enough for Silver Fox to have to cover tack, but not quite enough to overtake.
