A Rollercoaster Season
I have two lasting memories of the racing.
The final race was crewed by my youngest daughter Isobella and the long-suffering
Liesa. The wind was a southwesterly F5-6 and as we close tacked up the shore from
Cowes to a buoy off Durns barrier, Isobella was sitting out with the jib sheet and
Liesa was on the rail. ‘Madelaine’ was first on the water, ahead of ‘Woof’ and I can
remember feeling rather proud of us all. We slipped back on the water to third but
did enough to hold second overall for the week. The picture is of Isobella picking up
the trophy for the week.
My second memory is of flying a code zero on a folkboat for the first time on
Thursday’s race and watching the look of disbelief on the faces of the crews in
IRC 7. The boat flew with it up and along with great crewing during the week, was
the difference between second and fourth overall. You have to keep pushing the
boundaries in IRC.
Folkboat week turned into another classic, with close racing on the water and great
camaraderie on shore. My eldest daughter Madelaine was away for most of the
summer, which saw Isobella doing more racing this year, including at Folkboat week.
It all came down to the final race and fortune must have been smiling on ‘Madelaine.’
There was a general recall for the first start, which saw us at the wrong end and
wrong side of the line, fighting a strong flood tide in light airs!
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Isobella collecting the trophy for the week
