Reptilian delights
Did we have fun at the Lizard!
We took our NW wind most of the way to Mullion Cove and tacked up the back eddy whilst a line of boats parked up offshore. There was a light Southerly (team WAFL think it was a local sea breeze) at the Lizard itself and it was the transition between this and the NW wind that was holding up the fleet. All the best bits of fun have moments of terror and ours came when the wind switched off just as we were negotiating the rocks at the point. We had about .5 of a knot of fair eddy and no steerage ( its always rough here)and there was no knowing if this would deposit us on the rocks , so we had the unmentionable device (k—-) out and ready to go . Chris managed to get the merest hint of steerage and we were clear ,with the kite up and seemingly hundreds of boats parked the other side of the headland.
The next half hour was frantic as we gybed and wriggled and trimmed our way between about 4 conflicting sets of zephyrs ( 4 diffent local sea breezes vying for supremacy- Ok I admit I made that up!) but now a NW wind has filled in across the bay and we are off with hordes of boats chasing ½ mile astern.
Chris spends a lot of time on the AIS , and from the speed and vectors we can deduce what the wind is doing on varying parts of the course. It may have been designed for collision avoidance but he uses it as a local meteorological tool. What with me sending e-mails and Chris glued to the chartplotter it’s a good thing Festina is used to sailing herself for long periods of time!
We have the feeling that this is not Neptunes last throw and there may be more park ups before the night is out. If there isn’t , the finish team is going to have one hell of a headache as 50 boats finish line astern. If it does go light again the WAFL plan is to find a nice lobster pot to tie up to for the night.
I suspect you lot will be getting more sleep than us tonight!