Had a sail with Dylan and Sienna 1 on Saturday in the club 470 as part of their sail training and I have to say the both did well with Dylan looking very comfortable at the helm and also Sienna when she concentrated. Sienna also learnt that sound carries well over water just ask her about her comment regarding another sailor! Who she thought wouldn’t hear, ah well a lesson learnt.
Sunday Juniors was held in three to five knots with absolutely perfect sunshine and despite some trouble with the current the had a good time on the water. We again had a couple of new people turn up to have a look and try sailing thanks to being invited by some of the regular Juniors . Jonah and Corey had a bit of trouble with the conditions but with a bit of help with improving their tacking ( facing the front ) they both picked up the wind a lot easier and practiced just in front of the club. There was a new nickname for Coby as well but I think we will let Coby tell everyone what it is as its another one of his own creations!
Firstly Sunday 10.30 racing finished for some of our juniors who are now starting their own race series in conjunction with our 1.30 club race group, this is being done to not only increase their challenge but to help them when they travel to other venues to compete in the future. We had a large group on the day with strong outgoing current and variable wind speeds so I decided to send them under the bridge and up to Sovereign Island then back under the bridge to a buoy below the club, I didn’t tell them it was a challenging course I just let the have a go and the results were very good with people like Patrick, Nick, Finn and India coping well with the challenge in amongst the more experienced sailors. well done everyone!
Our winter series race was held in wind conditions that to say the least were challenging with a good breeze one minute and then either shifting or stopping all together and definitely not helped by the tide which was on the last of the run out and then starting the run in . some people would manage to get ahead only to be becalmed while those behind caught up and then they stopped as well ( ah the joys of light wind sailing ).
Now I have to apologise to Maurie for not mentioning him coming first in race one last week thank god for the misses Maurie who quite rightly pointed this out to me yesterday , my only excuse was that I wasn't at the finish in race one so it slipped my mind . We wont mention the capsize at the one minute by another sailor ( jb ) yesterday although he did get it up quick and still managed a good start at least the water is getting warmer.
Lastly yes we did shorten the course for everyone with absolutely no wind with the occasional slight puff and trying to beat an incoming tide as well , the finish line was set right beside the gutter that lead back into our channel so everyone could drift home and only when everyone was on shore did the wind come back as usual. Oops I almost forgot one of our new boys trying his hand at racing BICs has learnt the value of putting the bung in because when you don’t it fills up with water and wants to fall over? Apparently he had one of those bungs that unscrews itself yeah sure Michael.