We Was Robbed!

Thursday 22nd June, for some it was the first Thursday evening sail of the St Mawes sailing club competition for the Falmouth Working Boats.

The race was a good opportunity to hone our skills and set Evelyn up for the World Championships starting the following day.

Another six boats had the same idea all keen to put a mark down before the big event.

The crew was Brad on the helm, Mark C, Nigel, Ian J, Zoe, Rob, and Chris W.

The winds were light, and we prepared our run up to the start line, we had learnt that a good start is key to success in this form of very close racing over a short course. Counting down to the start we could see a melee of FWBs jostling for position along the start line. Evelyn sailed up to the south of the mayhem, and made the perfect start. Evelyn headed out to Lugo with the wind in her sails and making good speed. On getting adjacent to the Tresanton hotel one of the crew noticed there were no chasing boats, presuming the other 5 had jumped the start and were going back to cross the line again. The radio crackled informing us it was a general recall. We had 10 minutes to get back and restart after debating for a short time whether we should continue.

The second start was just as good as we headed out in second place, but over the course we slipped back as Evelyn was just not making as much progress on the downwind leg. The thoughts of winning our first race of the season ebbed away.

We came home in 5th place, but a bit disappointed that Evelyn had been recalled to the start, a debate continued on the rules of recall even into the bar.

The crew and boat were now prepared for the big weekend of 5 races with all the FWBs making an appearance in the Carrick Roads for what would be challenging weekend for crews and boats.