Leg 1, Days 8-9-10

Leg 1 Day 8
Poled out the genoa again for the night but set a course a little too deep downwind for best boat speed and by morning, after a good sleep, I was further west than I really should have been. It was obvious I would pay for this mistake as the wind slowly eased and continued clocking round to SE.

Leg 1 Day 9
Spinnaker down shortly after midnight with some relief as the wind now forward of the beam. By early evening I was close-hauled and life became more and more uncomfortable. Fortunately the wind backed during the night giving me a reach towards the eastern end of Saõ Miguel.

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'Red Ruth', Crewed by LSC member Duncan McMillan. 2nd Overall Class 2.

Leg 1 Day 10
The loom of Ponta do Arnel lighthouse was sighted shortly after midnight and I rounded the SE corner of the island at first light in company with Rustler 42 Red Ruth. With my spinnaker hoisted I was able to pull away from her.
With the southern headland of the island rounded, the direct course for Ponta Delgada became almost dead downwind and Red Ruth with poled out genoa was able to catch up. I gybed onto starboard with Red Ruth close behind but unfortunately they held their course and forced me to gybe back to avoid a potentially nasty situation. This gave me a spinnaker wrap and the determination to beat them across the line. I held starboard gybe deep into the bay, at the western end of which lies Ponta Delgada, then gybed back onto port on a fast point of sail direct for the finish line at the harbour entrance.
RIBs from the Club Naval de Ponta Delgada escorted us the last half mile. I crossed the line at 0939 BST Monday 14 June 1999, ahead of Red Ruth by several minutes.
Once my sails were down a young man from my RIB escort jumped aboard to assist with flaking the main and mooring up.

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AZAB leg 1 Prizegiving, Club Naval de Ponta Delgada

Elapsed time 8d 18h 19m
Corrected time 8d 4h 38m
2nd class 1 on both elapsed and corrected time
3rd overall corrected time
1st single-hander corrected time

Bucks Eagle won the leg, beating me by 1h 30m, giving me a target of 3h 20m corrected time to make up on leg 2.

 

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