Fantastic!  It’s the only word I can use to describe the day of the Latitude 18 Halyard Challenge 2010.  The wind was just right, the rain decided to take the day off, and the start line was busy.  It’s the perfect combination for a perfect day of sail boat racing.

Even the timing was perfect.  It is the time of year when the membership fees are due, and many are asking themselves if it is a wise investment.  This is the kind of day that makes you realise why we have a Yacht Club, and what it can do for us.

For me personally, this has been a memorable day.  Not just because of the perfect conditions, but also this is the first event I have helped to organise since joining the club, and it is my first attempt at  being a Race Officer.

A Race Officer’s job looks so easy when viewed from a competing boat.  Just wave a few flags, blow a few horns, right?  Like all skills in life, if you’re good at it you make it look easy even if it is not.  I guess I have been lucky enough to have good Race Officers in the past.  Many thanks to Bob who gave me a pep talk and some very good advice that turned out to be very useful.

The first start of the day was in Road Harbour.  The line was set, the boats were circling, and the clock was ticking.  I was worried as I could not see Racing In Paradise, driven by Richard Wooldridge anywhere.  I am not sure I am allowed to root for one particular boat as Race Officer.  But it is hard not to, when RIP is the boat I normally crew on, and my wife Kelly was racing that day.  I was relieved to see them come charging in at the last minute, just in time to circle around and make the start.

To my relief it was a good clean start, although one has to feel sorry for Rushin Rowlette, who were pushed off the start line in the final seconds and had some ground to make on the fleet.  Little did they know that interesting starts was going to be a consistent feature of the day for them!

With the fleet away the committee boat was up anchored and off to lay a finish line in Dead Man’s bay.  First to arrive was a race 1 DNS competitor Owen Waters, on his windsurfer.  He’d turned up to compete in the second race.

Before too long the unmistakable spinnaker of Dave West’s Jurakan with guest helm Alec Anderson appeared from behind the islands and started charging her way down toward Dead Chest.  Jurakan is an impressive sight driving downwind on a reach with full sail.

Next to the line was Peter Haycraft on Pipe Dream followed by Kevin Rowlette on Rushin Rowlette and Guy Eldridge on Luxury Girl.  Kevin and Guy fought it out right until the very end.  Rushin Rowlette used their upwind advantage to get the clean air and crossed the line just 1 second before Luxury Girl.  Colin Rathbun on Lime crossed the finish line well before the rest of the IC24 fleet.  On handicap Lime had beaten everyone by a good margin.

Next up was the swimming race.  This was an interesting event and I was wondering how Alec had managed to get himself into the ladies and child category.  Clearly others were thinking the same thing, and his decision to enter nearly cost him his swimming shorts.  This was not to be the worst part of his day however!

The start line for the second race was set for the direction of Dead Chest, and was well off the wind.  The danger of this is being over early.  As the seconds ticked by I could see Jurakan pushing Rushin Rowlette up toward the committee boat, both far too early to stand a chance of a good start. The rest of the fleet was not far behind.  Now where did I put that general recall flag?  Bobs advice was racing through my mind!  But I got lucky, because just as the timer reached zero Rushin Rowlette and Jurakan completely cleared the line and I got a good view with only one other boat,  Pipe Dream, just over line.  An individual recall it is then.

Alec on Jurakan made a hard turn to starboard to return to the line and T boned Rushin Rowlette in the process.  Well, that’s racing!  Fortunately no one was hurt, and the offenders returned to the line.   I never got a chance to ask Alec what went on there.

Jurakan had a better race from that point on, with a large downwind section they went on to complete the course via Dead Chest and Nanny Cay to the Yacht Club finish in less than an hour.  On handicap they were nearly nine minutes ahead of the second place boat, Lime.

Lime had to battle RIP hard for second place, and it was RIP that made it first to the downwind mark at Nanny Cay.  But it was Lime that had the upwind edge, and RIP had to settle for third place, finishing less than a minute behind Lime.  The rest of fleet finished in good order, except for Owen.  Our lone windsurfer retiring at Nanny Cay.

The prize giving sponsored by Latitude 18 clothing store was a full event, and a noisy one too.  Everyone was having a good time, but the crew of Sorceress seemed to be well ahead of the fleet in this regard.  Well done to you guys!  If there was a prize for partying, I am sure it would have been yours!  Many thanks to you all for attending the prize giving.  These are like start lines, the more the merrier.

The awards, certificates presented by Latitude 18, were issued by Guy Eldridge, our Captain of Sailing. Guy Eldridge himself took third place on Luxury Girl.  Second place went to Dave West’s team on Jurakan , and Colin Rathbun took the first place honours for Lime.

Many thanks to all our competitors, it was a fantastic day of racing.  A special thanks to our sponsors Latitude 18 and to Di, Justin and William who helped me out on the committee boat.  What would I have done without you?

The Governor’s cup is coming on the 23rd.  Make sure you are there.  If you miss it, you’ll miss a great day.  You’ll be sorry!