Eddie Cowell IOM Perpetual Trophy GRCYC Commodore Aaron Farrar headed down to Kawana for the Eddie Cowell Perpetual Trophy and compiled this report.
Firstly I would encourage any of you who would like to go to events but think you can’t because you are not up to that standard, think again, on the weekend there was three fleets and you would be surprised I reckon how some of you would go. It ended up to be A rig all weekend with winds fluctuation SSE to SSW around 5 to 15 knots. Small amount of rain on Saturday but nice Sunday.
I started the seeding race in fleet 2, broke a forestay and ended up beginning the regatta in C Fleet, two races in C fleet saw me racking up the points. I finally won the C fleet, then won B fleet the next race then into A fleet. I spent the rest of the day in A Fleet, winning one of those was a real buzz with the standard of skippers, also had a second and a couple of mid fleet finishes.
Day two started out a bit rough with changing conditions, I really struggled to get my boat going but was hanging in A fleet until a dreaded run in with Allan Walker (26) at a bottom mark. After I called “no overlap”, “call for water”, “don’t go in there 26” etc etc etc, the result entanglement left me at the back of the A fleet. Allan, also did not make it so… he decided to protest and off to the protest committee we went.
Here’s a tip… keep the communication up because I think it really helped as it didn’t go unnoticed. It was the first time in a Protest Hearing for me and it was interesting to say the least. I think I did well, sticking to the facts, the protest committee agreed and I was cleared, still in B fleet though.
Last race of the event and off I go in B fleet, still with my mind on being taken out of A fleet, a lesson in that for me, have to let those things go, I sailed around the first leg in mid fleet position, knowing I only needed to finish in mid fleet to reach my goal of a top ten finish overall and then……….. ‘Boom’ taken out at the bottom mark.
I regained my composure & was still going OK and after calling the penalty… there was no response from the other skipper…… so after a brain snap (internally) I decided to just sail my boat to the bank pick it up and wash down and head off on the long drive home.
Hindsight tells me I gave up, I should have just kept on sailing, still half a race to go, I know I would have come back through the fleet and achieved my goal of top ten…but I was weak and let my emotions get the better of me. A good event though with very well behaved skippers apart from a couple of well-known offenders in A fleet who throw their weight around, but nothing too bad. It was really social with a lot of sharing ideas and looking at other boats and tactics.
Anyway, Phil and myself are of the QLD titles in a few weeks so some good practice at our club racing will be on the cards.
Comentários