Ben Mohr Rock Race, January 17, 2010

More wind than last time blessed us for the re run of the Ben Mohr Rock race on Sunday. It was a cloudy but dry day and unusually warm. There was enough breeze blowing at 9.30 am to prompt some boats to start with a reef in their mainsail. Gyle was single handing on EMERZAR and so too was Roger on ELECTRA and the other starters were IMPOSSIBLE, KAY D and PARAMOUR.

The race stared at 10.40 am with the fleet tacking into a southerly 10 knot breeze. It soon moderated to about 7-8 knots with the occasional stronger gust. ELECTRA reached the Sisters first followed by KAY D and PARAMOUR who were sailing side by side and were to keep this duel going for most of the race. IMPOSSIBLE shook out their reef and changed to a larger genoa and so lost a little ground and EMPARZAR also bent on a larger sail, a somewhat longer job when single handing. A close reach moved the boats quickly to Captain's Passage and Ben Mohr with ELECTRA well ahead of PARAMOUR who rounded the buoy a boat length ahead of KAY D. The southerly wind gave the boats a close reach back to the Sisters in ever moderating conditions. ELECTRA broke out a chute in the now soft breeze and limped home in front of the fleet who were catching up with some slightly stronger airs. KAY D overtook PARAMOUR who were sailing NFS. IMPOSSIBLE was catching up too with Philippe's new chute enjoying a broad reach on one tack along the left side to the finish. Gyle was sailing NFS too and so suffered from a lack of horsepower. On corrected time KAY D just pipped ELECTRA with IMPOSSIBLE getting in front of PARAMOUR with EMPERZAR wing and winging in the now stronger air in fifth position. Exciting stuff and a most satisfying sail for all.

Roger Kibble on Electra