I haven’t said much about Chico so far this year. Just a post back in March when we were still getting her ready for the water. In retrospect I didn’t do a good job. We put her in the water on Good Friday and since then we have spotted a few problems I should have caught before now.

The outboard engine wouldn’t start because of salt in a seal. Some of the rigging screws for the mast were seized due to age, and corrosion. They had to be replaced by a professional rigger (I can’t recommend Gerry Doyle enough). And we forgot to put some of the running rigging in place when we stepped the mast. All in all not a particularly good or competent start to the year.

It was only last Saturday then that Laura and I got to take Chico out of Dun Laoghaire harbour for our first race with the Dublin Bay Sailing club. We really would have preferred a shake down cruise to clear the cobwebs and check everything was literally “ship-shape”. But we had missed 2 races already and didn’t want to further cement our position at the bottom of the table!

Shortly after leaving the harbour, with the sails up, I spotted a screw rolling about on the bottom of the cockpit. “That is odd, I wonder where that came from” was the thought that ran through my head as I picked it up and threw it on the table in the cabin.

Here is something important that ever boat owner should learn. IF YOU SEE A PART LYING ON THE GROUND FIGURE OUT WHERE THE FUCK IT CAME FROM. RIGHT NOW!

This is a lesson I will never forget because about a minute later there was a “SPRANG!” sound (one owners of old boats get to hear a few times a season I think) and the cleat used to lock the main sheet (which controls the mainsail – the engine of a sail boat) disintegrated. The whole thing was held together by screws driven into plastic blocks, an ass-backwards system that was going to fail eventually. And one that will be replaced by nuts, bolts and washers next week.

So there we were, 15 minutes to the start of the race, in a 23′ yacht with no way of locking the main sheet as the winds were blowing force 5 to 6. Laura (the skipper, navigator and tactician i.e. “the brains”) and I (jib sheets, foredeck, spinnaker packer, strings, and spotter i.e. “the brawn”) had a quick discussion. Laura had to hold the main sheet by hand, but felt she could manage it for the quarter of an hour until the start of the race. That way we would at least get points for turning up, even if we were a D.N.F.

As we tacked a few times in advance of the start we got more comfortable with our situation. Laura felt “this is just like sailing a big dinghy really”, so we said “fuck it” lets try the race. We lined up for the start with the other boats, Rascal and Maranda, and off we went for the first of the 4 marks.

Maranda quickly fell behind, leaving us and Rascal as the two slugging it out at the front. Although Chico was over powered (we should have had a reef in the main) we were able to open a lead of a few boat lengths over Rascal. We managed to keep it at around the first mark, and then again for the run to the second. Beating up to the third we were still in the lead, but Laura and I were fighting to keep the boat under control with the main sheet problems. Amazingly we were still in front rounding the 4th and final mark before the finish. Rascal wasn’t going to let us away though. With three crew she was able to hoist her spinnaker and used the extra speed to finish about 2 boat lengths ahead of us, or 8 seconds on the water. We had been so close.

This isn’t one design racing though. And a little later that evening, as we headed out the door of the club bar, we discovered that, adjusted for handicap, Chico had been awarded the race, beating Rascal by 12 seconds in elapsed time. Our first sail, and first race of 2009 had been our first ever victory! What a way to start the season.

Of course it will probably all be downhill from here