Cherbourg Double Race - There and back

We eventually made it to the start of the Cherbourg Double handed Race to Cherbourg, but what a rush!

The start was windy, heading east through the forts to exit the Solent, then a beat all the way to the finish line... We spent the whole night within 200 meeters of the front boat, a J125 which seemed to be doing exactly the same speed as us at all times... we chased them and forgot about the rest of the fleet, we had put several miles between us and the next boat behind and thought we were safe...

But nothing is granted in these races, the fleet behind us got a favourable wind shift whilst we never saw it... when we got to Cherbourg we could see the fleet we thought was miles behind steaming to the finish line several miles to windward of us: how could that be!!! We ended up crossing the finish line within few seconds of the J125 but three boats had crossed the line by then... I think the J125 crew was at least as surprised as we were... Lesson learnt: always cover the fleet behind when you are leading a race!!!

We truly enjoyed the race and learnt lots about the boat, we're still on the front face of the learning curve and this channel crossing excellent, all night in close vicinity of the J125 meant we really tried and tweaked the sails trying to go faster and saw some things working some others not...

As soon as we got to Cherbourg we decided that given the forecast for Sunday of rain and northerly winds we were better off leaving straight away, so we turned around and went home... for a total of almosto 48 hours of no sleep!

We trashed the A2 while sailing back, a real pain... i need to sort out a new one this week.

Next weekend I might do the Solent to Poole Solo race, if i find enough spare energy, tomorrow i'm flying to Munich for work, come back wednesday night...