Steve has been back aboard the mighty Highland Fling as a member of their race crew for Tre Golfi Sailing Week… Here’s his recount of this 150nm offshore, and 2 inshore races:

”It was a great start for the Highland Fling team. The breeze dropped to 4 to 5 knots with plenty of big holes that were hard to spot and easy to get stuck in! The lead pack stuck together; it came down to who could keep moving throughout the night…” Recounts Steve.

”It was a long night where we managed to keep moving most of the time but struggled to extend away. As the sun came up we were able to see 50meters of discarded fishing line and small floats around the bulb. We managed to get this off and spent the rest of the day drifting around in windless conditions waiting for the breeze to fill in. Finally with 40 miles to the finish, and sadly not enough runway to make our time back. We kept trying though; it was certainly one of the slowest offshores I’ve done in a long time!”

The inshore races were definitely more of a success for the Fling Team…

”Race Day 1 of the Tre Golfi inshore regatta was sailed in a fickle breeze that meant the race committee struggled to get the course set. On the Fling we rounded the top mark in second place and chose not to follow the lead boat back into the shoreline but to stay in the breeze we had. We took the lead and extended a little to take the win on the water although we weren’t far enough ahead to take the handicap win… However Race Day 2 went even better; The course should have had 2 windward leeward races however the positioning meant that we were in the transition zone between two different winds from each side of the bay giving light and very shifty conditions for the only race we managed to complete. After a few starts that were abandoned we finally got away cleanly and rounded the top mark in first. The after-guard picked the shifts well on the downwind leg and the crew work at the bottom mark meant we rounded cleanly and continued to extend away from the 72’s to take the class win by the end of the race, making for a very happy crew!”

Steve Branagh, RSB Rigging Director 

A happy final result for a tough sailing week! Well done to the Fling and her crew. Let’s hope for more wind for the next one…