Enjoyed a blustery weekend of racing off Altea taking part in the Trofeo Presidente and 5 Clubs series' run by Club Nautico Altea.

At Sunday's presentation we collected two nice trophies having achieved a 2nd place in Division B for the Trofeo Presidente, and a 3rd place in Sunday's 5 Clubs.

Day one saw us complete two windward leeward courses in SSW winds, in the morning averaging 12 knots, but in the afternoon it was gusting to 30.

Think it was one of our slow learning days, as it was pretty obvious after the first beat that the shoreside right hand was well favoured. Those boats that worked that side in the 3 mile long beats saw a divergent breeze close by the coast that allowed them to lift along the shore, then beat out into another lift on the alternate board heading out to the windward mark. Our rivals Pajuelin (Salona 37) and Aurora (Farr 36.7) did just that and opened up a sizeable lead.

We got some of that back on the offwind run, to round the leeward mark in front of Aurora but still well behind Pajuelin, but for some silly reason, we continued to work the middle of the course for the second leg, meaning our finishing order remained as it was and with handicaps applied, Pajeulin 1st, Jumbuck 2nd, Aurora 3rd.

Race 2 saw us swop out our Genoa for our heavy AP as the weather developed. Did much better upwind but still trailed Pajuelin at the windward mark. Aurora close behind.

On the run we smoked, got right back on Pajuelins stern, but then fell back on the final windward leg and couldn't recover what we lost. Results once handicaps applied Pajuelin 1sr, Aurora 2nd, Jumbuck 3rd.

Sunday's 5 Clubs (which also forms the third race in the Trofeo President) was a coastal affair, taking us back and forth across Altea Bay. Winds were topping 15 gusting 20 as we lined up for a crowded start, and I was sure there were multiple boats OCS - including Jumbuck. We found a slot and turned back to restart - but no one else did - and none were pinged after! Bit frustrating.

Anyway, once we got going Jumbuck flew in the fresh conditions, both upwind and down. She didn't fly fast enough to catch Pajuelin, but we were less than 500 metres behind her by the finish, and right up among the tail end of the Class A fleet. Made a few mistakes on the way round (plus that restart) and survived a protest from. 40.7 that didn't accept we'd got an inside overlap, to get a 3rd place in the 5 Clubs.

But we've also learnt that in Jumbuck can go faster upwind in 15 knots using our APs than using our Genoa. So will need to review what handicap advantage we might get were we to use the APs for every race. It's a tad frustrating that we have a higher rating under ORC than we would have against our rivals under IRC, and that our rivals appear to have the lowest rating of almost every boat in their class. So. Bit of handicapping magic needed to get it all back to a level playing field.

Overall - Super weekend, and our crew of Rob Mitchel, Gary Illingworth, Edo Volker, Eric Degerland and Kevin Moss proved once more why I love sailing with them. Top jobs all round. Well done everyone!