With less than one week to go before the start of theSolent6.50 the race is on to get everything organised, tweaked and ready to rock. Crean left East Cowes last weekend where we have been training with theArtemisAcademyfor the last two months, and headed across to Lymington. As I headed out of theMedinaRiverI turned left and blasted across theSolentin 25 knots downwind. Before I knew it, it was time to drop the kite and reach the final part across to Lymington. I was welcomed by Geoff, who arrived an hour earlier, both of us bearing broad smiles; we both knew how much fun that was!
The next few days will be a fun programme of organising and replacing kit that I will need for theSolent6.50. This is a 220nm race rounding the Isle of Wight to the east, then to Wolf Rock before heading toPlymouth. If the weather was anything like last weekend it will be a very quick race! I will be joined by Matt Haslam, a long term friend and ex BKA member. He has been match boat and keel boat racing for the last seven years, so with his skills and my offshore experience we hope to make the most out of this first race and offer a top position.
Before we set off though we have a few jobs that must be addressed; the first of which is replacing my pulpit, with a more up to date one, due to the rules stating that the distance between the unsupported guard wires can not be greater than 2.2m. An annoying issue but one that has to be sorted. Another job will be organising the rather extensive list of safety equipment, which are extremely well checked! I won’t bother going through the many items but let me say that it’s well over ten pages!
Pictures and video content to follow
