10 Aug Training Day
Waking up this morning wasn’t easy, the team had an amazing time watching Cowes Race Week and sipping champaign at the Transatlantic Awards. We were able to walk up to the podium to claim the youth team trophy!
Today we got down to the yard at 10 finished up some last minute projects and hit the water by 12. It was a windy day, around 20 – 25 knots, and the wind battered the bow around as we hoisted the main. It felt wonderful to be back on the water, it was a warm sunny day and the entire team was smiling.
We went upwind for a while then divided into our watches and practiced putting in reefs and shaking reefs. As we rumbled upwind we passed the new Abu Dhabi Volvo 70, it took most of our self control to continue on our course and not stalk them around the Solent. It is a very cool boat, and there are tons of boat nerds on board.
In the middle of Cowes Race Week we decided to put up a spinnaker and run back to the harbor. I am happy to report that we didn’t mess up anyone’s race, but we had a wide eyed Ralf to leeward spotting boats as we cruised towards them at 20 knots. Ralf is amazing, I hope he doesn’t regret his decision to let us borrow his boat.
The boat is now resting along side the dock at Hamble Marina and we are back at the house watching Amo’s clips from the day and cooking pasta with meat sauce. The cooler of sandwiches mysteriously became waterlogged while we were out racing so the team is ready to eat a horse.
Molly Robinson, August 10