Disco - 2nd in Class, 6th in Group & 20th Overall (out of 800 boats)
What a result! Disco was chartered for the biggest race in the world by MatthewsDaniel & AON. We had 14 of us onboard including myself, Matt, Scotty & Bob, sailing abilities for the rest of the team ranged from nil to bareboat holidays, 3 of the crew also missed the days training so we had challenge on our hands.
Friday's training went well, the wind was light the sun was shining on us which made training enjoyable. Scotty, Kevin & A1 were in charge of the foredeck with Grado & A2 in the pit, with myself, Simon & Heath trimming the jib and spinnaker, Dave on the mainsheet and Matt at the helm. Time flew and we found ourselves in Hamble to pick up a genoa and the crew shirts. We motored back as time was pushing on and the Yacht Haven was already full. We got ourselves a berth in Souters and wandered down to the beer tent. Pint of Pimms, Please were the words that escaped my mouth. We then met up with Ramos, Mike & Chris. While they went off to check into their B&B we wandered down to the Pier View for more Pimms! The first person I saw when going through the door was Gavin! How exciting our first sighting of our Caribbean friends! So we caught up on the gossip!!!
We then headed up to the Island Sailing Club for dinner where the team was finally all together as Bob joined us. We left the table at 11ish and made sure that Grado went to his bed rather than out partying!
All crew aboard at 6.15am!!!! Our start was at 7.20am so it gave us time to brief Chris, Mike & Ramos on how to be 'rail monkeys'! Bob was of course in his usual armchair at the back of the boat calling the tactics! We made our way to the start line but couldn't actually see it as there were so many boats on the water. I'm not too sure what the final count was but it was around 1,500. We had a good start with clean air and made our way down to the Needles under spinnaker.
Attention was needed as this year we had a different tide system which meant that heading out past the Needles was paying off rather than hugging the coast which has always worked in previous years. The breeze started to pick up around St Catherine's Point and carried us round to the Forts where it all stared to die off again. Luckily it picked back up and we held the spinnaker from the Forts to the finish.
Once moored to the dock we cracked open the bubbly to celebrate a fine day on the water, Scotty's first spinnaker peel & a good result. Next stop the Island SC to check the results and taste the Pimms! After a few too many jugs of Pimms we all headed off for showers before meeting for dinner at the Royal Corinthian. It was a lovely dinner but we had to leave early, after 11pm, as I was a very sleepy girl, and yes I fell asleep at the table again! The others stayed on until about 3am and got caught out in a thunder storm.
Sunday saw a leisurely breakfast our result of 2nd in class confirmed, having missed out by 2 minutes for 1st! Some of the crew departed and Kevin's wife, Julie, and two of their daughters, Victoria & Harriet arrived. We went for a cruise across the Solent and then up Southampton Water before saying our goodbyes in Ocean Village, while parked between Velsheda & Leopard!
A Fantastic result for the crew and Disco, next year we have to go GOLD!!!!
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