2011 Carey Olsen Inter Island Yacht Race
By Sarah and Konstantin
After bad weather had forced the sponsors, Carey Olsen, to postpone the original race date to August the ambitious crews were chomping at the bit;
Despite John's usually merciless scrutiny, he had generously forgotten to submit our sailing-CV's, so we felt a bit more relaxed for our first race together;
The race always has two legs, the Champagne Race and the fierce Inter Island Race;
Outbound, we set off in a force 3 - just sufficient wind to reach Jersey for a pork pie and a pint;
Basking in the sun and gliding out of Guernsey, the mood was so relaxed only later did we realise that we had been listening to the same song (Snow Patrol!) on repeat for around 2 hours;
John decided to focus everyone's mind again - hoisted the spinnaker and threatened to play Queen loudly over the speakers; 1.5 knots faster on a dead run took us to Jersey in no time;
Next day, was a different story: force 4-5 (but still the sun shining), everyone in foulies and excitement ahead of the start;
Beating into the wind with a small foresail initially let us fall behind the fleet a little;
John kept a cool head; Tacktic's tacking tactics eventually left the competition in her wake; 5th over the line and 9th overall (according to IRC scoring) was a formidable result with a great fun crew;
watch this space!
For more details on the race and the results see... the Carey Olsen Inter Island Yacht Race Website.
