Cretan Union Cup

[ubuysa]

I thought some of you might be interested to see this? I was competing in the Cretan Union Cup regatta last week, not on my boat though but on a Gib'Sea 36 belonging to a friend. We didn't win anything but we had a lot of fun. We're the boat heading left to right in this picture (number 23) and I'm the nutter in red foulies hanging on to the starboard rail trying to keep the boat upright!

 

[dogbot]

So, you didn't win the Cretan Union Cup. Never mind, let me wish you and the rest of your cretins all the best in the future.

I thought the idea was to race from point A to point B but you appear to be taking a different route. Not only that, both boats are in the way of someone trying to photograph their house. The person is obviously no seaman since, from the sign on his house, he does not even know how to spell 'foresail'.

 

[ubuysa]

So, you didn't win the Cretan Union Cup. Never mind, let me wish you and the rest of your cretins all the best in the future.

I thought the idea was to race from point A to point B but you appear to be taking a different route. Not only that, both boats are in the way of someone trying to photograph their house. The person is obviously no seaman since, from the sign on his house, he does not even know how to spell 'foresail'.

:tt2:

That photo was from a "round the cans" race. In these races there is a start line and a buoy (affectionately called a "can" or "mark") placed directly upwind from the start line. Since sailing boats can't sail directly into wind it's necessary to tack upwind to the mark (buoy), this is where the skill comes in, reading the wind and the gusts and picking the right points to tack. In this photo the Oceanis 42 (coming toward you) has already tacked (note that the wind is coming over their port rail - so they're on port tack) we on the other hand have chosen a later tack point so we're still on starboard tack. The racing and collision rules require a sailing boat on port tack to give way to one on starboard tack, so we're also holding our course a tad longer to force the Oceanis to give way to us (and thus lose speed). Then we also tacked onto the same heading (roughly ) as the Oceanis. It took three or four tacks to get up to the mark so it was a very exciting duel between two pretty closely matched boats tacking up to the mark. Once round the mark it's a fairly leisurely downwind sail back to the start line which we cross and then go round again. BTW. The yellow buoy in the background is nothing to do with the race and the other 8 yachts in the race were way ahead of us and are not in this photo.......

That building has been for sale for years and years. I think the owner is asking silly money but I can make enquiries for you if you're interested...?