Saturday - I completed a race - how about that! I never thought to do a race again, let alone finish one. I was last ashore - but who cares - I finished!

Course 19

The conditions are much more challenging than sailing a triangle or figure of eight on open water. It is more like an obstacle race, but I am expecting that I will learn where things are and where the regular gusts are. I went for the fast handicap - which meant three circuits of the course below Loder's Cut (which is a gap in the mud banks cut by some guy called Loder in the late 19th c.). The slow handicap fleet (I can sail in either) only did one circuit.

There are moored boats all along, the tide varies and the wind is shadowed in places by trees and banks. It also funnels down around 9 and C . So within about three boat lengths you go from being becalmed to being almost overpowered. The only decent wind was between 7 and D. It can only be good for my technique! One has also to identify the marks and remember the course (yea - it is written down but you don't want to take your eye off the wind to look.) I got lost twice - which I suppose is quite good really.

They do 5,4,1 starts from the clubhouse. I started almost on the line (which I could not see due to moored boats) - and did OK  until I could not spot 7 or distinguish D from a load of mooring bouys! There are two bouys at 14 so I headed to the wrong one - and then  the mainsheet untied itself (OK I had not fixed the knot properly) and I lost where I was whilst I re-tied it. I  slowed down as I got tired but hung on in there and finished. Fun - fun - fun. Or fun without the need to bring the boat ashore and pull it up the ramps by myself (everyone else was in) and then unrig it. But I did it and there was very nice cake and tea in the galley.