Cork Week Day 4 - The Aussie View
Day four and the bodies are starting to feel the wear and tear a little bit now. Everyone is a little slower to get out of their bunks in the morning and there's lots of chat about massages and hot baths. 
'A beautiful day at Cork - Cork Week08'
Anne Hogan
This of course isn't helped by the fact that we held an 'Aussie Party' last night. We invited the boats around us over for a tot of rum and coke, a lamington and a verse or two of Land Down Under. We handed out koalas and Australian flag tattoos to practically the whole marina, I don't think theres anyone left here who hasn't been branded by us! 
Today was our turn on the slalom course which the guesser described to us as beat, short reach, bear away ,set, gybe, gybe, gybe, drop, gybe, and then do it all again! Paul and Jane on the foredeck were wincing in advance thinking of how many more chances they had to have the pole dropped on their heads! We started in a nice 12kts, to stern warnings from the committee boat that there was a strong current running which would push any over eager starters across the line. So, as one would expect, the whole fleet ignored the advice and was over.
The race starter called us all on VHF and said; 'right I warned you the first time, stay back, the I flag will be in place'. Most boats took it a little more conservatively this time and only three were OCS, they went back around the ends and the rest of us were off, on what the crew say was one of the best courses we have ever sailed. We are all going back to our clubs to ask them to instigate a slalom course, it certainly keeps things interesting. Yet again the crew work was perfect, the marks were pretty close together and no sooner had we gybed round one it was time to gybe again, the wind had come up quite a bit by then and we held it beautifully every time.
We had a short delay between races while they moved the windward and leeward marks to stretch the course a little; compensating for the extra wind. Then yet another great start and off we went. Because this boat is shoal draft it tends to go sideways in strong wind, also the wind had shifted making potential kite runs very shy, so we decided not to risk going sideways with and just reached. Most of the fleet took the same decision. On our next run the wind shifted again, so the kite was pulled out and off we went.
A really fantastic days sailing and to top it off the sun has finally come out ! Last day tomorrow, we are on the harbour course. Our aching bodies will be relieved it's coming to an end, but we will be very sad to leave cork and this amazing racing. 
Check out our crew on www.manlysailing.com.au/racing
And our sponsors on www.blackheart.com.auand www.suuntowatches.com
by Anne Hogan
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Stockton, NSW
