Kit Guide

Chichester Snowflake Finale - (explaining the ferry glide)

The final day and last two races of the Chichester Snowflake Series were held on Sunday the 25th March. We were keen to again try out our new twin pole system. After the Merlin Open the previous day, there were enough Merlin's that stayed around to play to make the racing interesting. We had never won a race against them in the series so with our new M7 mast up, the racing would be interesting. The first race was in very light conditions. The current was running from right to left looking upwind. We opted to use this current to give us the ability to ferry glide to windward using what I would call the lee bow effect. When the breeze increased - we would experience a heading effect in the wind - as the current wind would be less effective - so we tacked. It was really hard sailing in such light winds - but as long as we did not rush the first part of each tack - we were able to shoot the wind explained perfectly in the Boat Whisperer Upwind DVD. Off wind hoists were getting better - we just wished there was more wind to help blow out the lazy pole end sheet. Our drops were pretty quick - we could leave it to the last minute. Our concerns were sailing over the sheets if the pole drop was too early - so I left it all to Sarah - including taking the sheet - whoops! The second race was equally light and fickle; this time the current had switched to now from left to right. Hence our apparent wind moved right. The race team were equal to this change and moved both the first mark and start line for again a perfect beat. This time on Starboard tack we were looking for the lee bow taking us to starboard. Whether it was the new twin poles, the ferry glide technique, the tacks, the new M7 mast, the awesome handicap of the Scorpion in light winds or just our sheer good luck - who knows but we did win both races!