LUCIE had another day of great racing: we saw fairly light winds today, so light that both LUCIE and FLAPPER decided to take a tow from the chase boat out to the starting area – and once there only a very light sea breeze of 8 to 10 knots started to fill in. The starting line was moved around a mile further under shore to take advantage of the more stable conditions there.
With a slight delay the moderns went off after a general recall and the classic fleet of 19 boats followed around 10 minutes later. It was very clear that all crews now got used to the local conditions and the starts were closer and harder fought for. LUCIE started at the race committee boat and timed it to the second. A perfect start and as it turned out it was the better side to start at as the pin end got so crowded that some boats had to either turn around or missed the line all together. LUCIE continued to the left side of the course and with her great start was in a top position. When reaching the upwind mark for the first time LUCIE was in an excellent 2nd position with some distance to the 3rd boat and she continued to hold and defend this position all the way to the finish line…
Here she is, second day of racing, a rule 2 boat from 1931, wooden mast, dacron sails, not self tailing winches on deck and no cam cleats for any lines above deck – sailing against a fleet of mostly rule 3 or modified rule 2 boats – taking a second place. Pretty impressive!
The second race was delayed a bit as the wind shifted and got very light in some areas of the race course. The race committee raise AP for around 30 minutes, changed the starting area over back to the east and waited for the newly building breeze to stabilize. Finally AP was lowered and the second race of the day was started: and the starting line became even more crowded. More boats decided for the committee boat end of the line, some yelling from boat to boat and three boats were pushed over the committee boat. LUCIE again had an excellent start, to the second and above the whole fleet right at the committee boat.
This time LUCIE searched the way thru the center of the race course while the majority of boats went far left again – by the first upwind mark LUCIE came thru in 8th position in a very closely spaced group and started to fight back on the downwind leg. She improved positions from leg to leg and already had 5th position after three legs. The race committee had decided to make this a five leg race and by the end of this rahter long race with very shifty winds LUCIE came in as boat 7.
The boats were back at the Nynashamn Yacht Club by around 1730 – a long day on the water!
After the first day of racing yesterday LUCIE was in 7th position of the classic field, by the end of today’s racing she is now in 5th position overall and very eager to defend or even further improve tomorrow. Showing some wooden mast while doing so…
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