Disastrous Day Racing

After the success of last week the team aboard Puma Logic were highly motivated and gunning for another great result. With a forecast promising 20 – 25 knots of wind everything was looking superb. This is perfect conditions for the Reflex 38 and some exciting downwind sailing to look forward to.

Everything was going according to plan up till about 15 minutes before the start gun. A problem with the top batten meant that the mainsail needed to be dropped and repaired. This was done effectively and hoisted with eight minutes to spare. Puma was back on track.

Going into the start routine Puma was feeling good, she was well balanced and flying upwind. All the pre start procedures were well executed and the line sussed. The line had a very big port bias meaning there was only one place to start; at the port end of the line! Jammy Dodger had the same idea and we were surprised that the majority of the fleet were lining up at the Committee Boat end of the line.

The gun went and we were on the line on the gun. But where was everyone else? There was just us, Jammy Dodger and a few other boats in the area. Why was everyone else at the other end of the line? Even more confusing was the Race Officer commenting on the VHF that there was a big Starboard bias in the last minute.

It very quickly became obvious that something was not quite right. After about five minutes we realised that the race committee had in fact laid two orange marks in the vicinity of the start. We had not used the one which they intended to constitute the start line. Disaster; and there would not be enough time to get back to the start area to cross the line before the five minute time out. We were left with no option other than to retire from the race.

After retiring we notified the race committee that we would be putting in a ‘request for redress’. This is effectively a protest against the race committee as their actions have resulted in Puma not gaining the result that she should have done. The hearing will be on Sunday after the last race. If we are successful then it is likely that Puma will be awarded average points for the race which will keep us in a solid third place.

At the moment Puma is still in third place on equal points with Prime Suspect and Tarka. So long as Puma beats those two next week then we will finish in third place regardless of the outcome of the hearing. The pressure is now on and Sunday should provide an exciting and tense conclusion to the Winter Series.