Its been a couple of years since I raced my Gull "aurora". Recently I've been heavily into racing a more purpose built vessel. I've been so obsessed with this pass time and, as I'm such a regular attendant on the open circuit, I ordered a brand new boat earlier this year. My old one was good enough to help me win an open at my home club of Dorchester in September 2010 but after being involved in an RTA she was looking a bit shabby.
Time to dispel some myths; don't ever believe that old boats of any class are not competitive (I had my new boat for 9 months and never achieved the same results as I did with the old one). Newer boats are lighter therefore faster? (I know that I weigh more than the boat ever will. It's where I put that weight that matters). Modern components and materials are better? (If better means frustrating, unreliable boat bought from a frustratingly unreliable boat builder.....). The boat in question has been sold and I'm now left licking my wounds and feeling sorry for that particular class association that I feel may suffer as a result of the new boats that are being built.
I'm still in the market for a fast single-hander so that I may begin a fresh open circuit campaign in 2012 and I'm going to try a Streaker as I think it might suit my sailing style. In the meantime I've got my hands on a 20 year old boat of the class I discuss above and despite her being very leaky and with a completely knackered sail I raced her to victory in yesterday's handicap race at DSC.....proves my point that older is not necessarily any slower. Don't believe the hype given to you at boat shows people, if you love your old boat she will be the perfect craft for you.
What's all this go to do with Gulls? I hear you ask. Well, hoping to save the old stop-gap racing boat and it's knackered old sail for the last few opens that I will sadly attend with that class, I thought I should give the Gull a race, it had been a long time since we raced together. I dusted off her beautifully cut Dolphin racing sails and headed to DSC for the usual bank holiday pursuit race. For those of you new to pursuit racing it works like this, 1) Turn up at the start line in your Gull 10 minutes before the next boat because she is so slow that you get a huge head start. 2) Shoot of up the lake at a crazy speed shouting to the Laser sailors on the shore who have not even launched their boats yet "you won't catch me". 3) The faster boats are started at timed intervals according to their handicap so that in theory all boats should finish neck and neck after 1 hour if sailed by the same standard of sailor. Sounds fair? well it is, and I won. So there! My slow, heavily built, cruising Gull dinghy beat all those faster, sleaker boats.
The point is that I did not need a fast, expensive, modern racing boat to have such good fun and to win a race. Aurora is a solid, reliable and, as it transpires, competitive little boat and I love sailing her against faster boats. I should do it more often.
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