Photos:
Richard in a happy moment with the fleet behind him. Richard being presented with the trophy by Greek and European past Finn champion.
The people photo is of Ollie and Leslie with their friends and crew another Richard and wife Claudia.
We have been wondering when it was going to happen and it does. We are walking down the street in Aigina and someone says HELLO!! Rupert and Kristin you will remember Ollie and Lesley sailing on Anatolie from the Eastern Med Yacht Rally. It is really neat to catch up with these two and we swap lots of great memories, but they make the mistake of telling us there is to be a racing weekend on Poros and we (Richard!) of course decide to join in.
It certainly surprises us to find how well Matelot performs, when we win on Saturday in the 'round the cans' windward leewards by lapping most of the fleet and 8 minutes ahead of the second boat on corrected time. (An ex Admirals Cup 39 foot design.) The competition also comes with pretty good credentials with the racing being organised by an ex Olympic yachtsman who also participates. To our great surprise we are presented with a super trophy on Saturday night which is now proudly on display on Matelot.
The main around the island race on Sunday is a bit of a disaster with not enough wind to blow us around, however, once again Matelot leads the fleet most of the way, and being the one to beat we have lots of tactical games on the outside of the island in the light air, which is hugely enjoyed by all the fleet as we chase the small flurries of wind around all over the sea. Star of the day is Anatolie when she charges up the outside with sails goose winged and threatens to overtake us, but crafty old Cap'n Buck tacks out and covers her. In the end we are the only boat to make it back into the harbour before the race time expires. Needless to say Richard is very pleased, but we will only know for sure how good our boat is when we pitch her against Rumpus!
We have been made a huge fuss of here and invited back for the racing again next year - last weekend in October. We have promised to bring some more friends and boats to join in! The people here are truly a great bunch.
Tomorrow morning at sparrows we sail out into the Agean...
3 comments:
Kids - you will be pleased to know I was wearing my 'Old Guys Rule' Cap as usual!
Cap'n Papa
Always knew you two had it in you to keep the good name of Kiwi sailing to the fore. Congrats and safe passage to Kos.
SkipnLib
hi there, so good to read that the rivalry is there, we are getting High Octane back into racing trim soon but sounds like the competitive spirit is alive and well with you two!!! Kristin
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