An exciting start to our Melbourne 2 Osaka (M2O) campaign. The race to Queenscliffe this weekend saw me (Shelley) on the helm for the first time. Beyond Outrageous sailed well with no adjustments to our handicap for short handed racing.
On the way down to Queenscliffe we lost some time in swapping headsails, gear change down from #1 to #3. Long time since Tony has done the foredeck (sic. getting a bit old). I believe however that we kept pace with everyone in what turned out to be a drag race. Parked over night at Queenscliffe with a great time had by all at the pub. It was a lovely opportunity to get to know more of the crew members from all the other boats except for Addiction who chose to moor elsewhere.
Trip home was delayed by a few sleepy heads, including the start boat, Gienah. Only us, Remedy and Sea Eagle where at the Channel Pile at 11am with Addiction coming in fast from the North.
Start of the race was exciting for me as we threw up a Mast head .75 Square Spinnaker, wine glassed to give everyone else a head start. LOL. Primitive Cool was the only boat to put up a Headsail to start, following the starting instructions to the letter. The good news is that this didn’t hold them back too much and they spectacularly went through the finish line in close proximity to Matrix. Well done boys and girls.
As for us, after gybing for the third time (I can handle a 5.5m pole) across the finish line we had to get the spinnaker down before we hit the beach. This was interesting as the wind we had been praying for picked up just as we crossed the line. Managed to bring the kite down, would’ve been handy if we had auto helm at this point, Tony had to leave the tiller a couple of times to help me get 180sm of material into the hatch.
Much enjoyed and looking forward to Apollo Bay.



























