Round Taal Volcano Race 2006 - Day 2
I woke up at around 5:30 I think. I had a fairly good sleep in the hammock that I brought and I was surprised to find that tato was also sleeping in the same hut as i was.
I was contemplating of giving it a go with my pipes to give everyone a wakeup call, but my aching body and better part of reason decided against it. I might end up annoying more people than amusing them.
I decided instead to go to the market and get some ciggies and rice for my adobo baon.
at breakfast, Tato invited us for a morning cruise on his boat. and who was I to decline it
Mario was game also and so was the rest of his family. assuming my usual mast man position
I raised the sails and off we went. with all of us in the cockpit the boat was a little aft heavy, so being the man of mass that I am, I positioned myself inside the forward hatch. That evened everything out and the boat was nice and level, and we made good speed. Tato’s boat really feels like a keel boat. everyone had a great time, mario’s wife especially.
when we got back Arvin was already there, and all set to race.
after doing some pre-race preparations and getting briefed by Arvin on the course we were ready to go.
normally when i sail, I don’t buckle up the front of my pfd, but this time, I felt that I should, and so I did.
most of the toppers were aleady out when I got there and getting set for the first race. i’ve had very little experience jibing in my boat and I was watching lilly, arvin and the other topper sailors do it. and then I said to my self, "I can do that" so I tried. so the boom swung over and so did the rest of the boat and I fell into the water. CAPSIZE! The moment I dreaded finally arrived, and the race was about to start too. getting to watch chris and peter last week doing capsize drills was still fresh in my head. and so I just did what they did.
at first I was tangled up in the sheet as I watched my mast go totally under, I thought I was going to get dragged down, but I didn’t. I was eventually able to get myself free and I then proceeded to try and right the boat. with the boat upside down I clamberred over to the top (or bottom). It was a good thing I pushed the daggerboard well into the trunk, and it didn’t drop out when the boat went upside down. I wasn’t really on top of the boat it was more to the side with my feet on resting on the bottom of the gunwales. pulling on the daggerboard the boat righted to its side fairly easy. once on its side I just put a little more weight on the daggerboard and up it went. I made sure I was holding on to the boat when it righted just in case the sheet was caught on something.
The boat didn’t sail away when it righted so it looked like the sheet was free. I then tried to get back in the boat. even with water in it there was still a lot of sheer, so I tried to board at the transom, no luck there. My arms were not strong enough…. or I was just to heavy
so I went to the side instead and boarded the boat one leg first. The water in the boat prevented it from capsizing again from my all of my weight on one side. and I was back in the boat.
So I did it, got through my first capsize, it was pretty much a text book righting , except I forgot to point the bow to the wind. the hardest part was actually getting back in.
Soon as I was in, then I heard the 1 minute horn sound. I then brought out the bailer and started bailing like crazy then the flag went up and off they went. with still a lot of water in the boat joining the race was out of the question, so I went back to shore and decided to remove the water there.
It took a while before I got the water out and all that bailing got me exhausted. so I rested a bit. by the time I got back to join the fray they were about to start the third race. It was my only buoy race of the weekend and I managed to finish behind everyone but the Vagabond. but I managed to learn a lot from it.
After that race we went back. I was already tired and decided to pack up my boat while I still had the energy.
While trying to undo the clew strap the wind caught the sail and sheet got caught in one of the cleats, and all i can do was watch as the boat went on its side again. argh! this was just not my day. a couple of the hobie sailors were kind enough to help me tip the boat over and get most of the water out.
mario and iking helped me unbolt the boat and bring it back to shore, while tato and his crew helped me load ceol beag back into the van.
