Easter Sunday Racing

8.30 am Easter Sunday morning and another brilliant summery day in prospect - for everybody, but the OOD that is! Not a breath of wind and the tide starting to ebb, so little opportunity to postpone the racing for long to 'see if things might improve'.

A cloudbank over the bay might mean some wind or it might just dissipate with the heat of the day.

Do we hope and go, or do we abandon? In such conditions the OOD is 'damned if he does and damned if he doesn't'. A crisp decision was made half-an-hour before the scheduled start to abandon, and the appropriate flags were flown from the starters box hanging limp and lifeless until around the official start time, when the mischief makers of the natural world released a nice little breeze to shake them out as if mocking the decision!

Maybe we could have had a race, but quite likely we would have had to tow everyone in, as the wind did die and released the promised perfect day.

The moral of the tale is please respect the OOD's decisions when times are tough - even if you think you know better!

Alternatively, we need more race officers, so rather than 'know better' from the dinghy park, get involved and help in the starters box.

More luck next time

The Easter Monday no-points race was luckier with the weather with a good wind to provide some exhilarating racing, but still in warm sunshine.

Peter Bower's Phantom crossed the line ahead of the Commodore in his Solo, but Megan is creeping up the rankings, finishing third ahead of her mother in her Radial.

Extra washing-up chores as handicap penalty at home I guess!

Antics in the Bay

Our ever-active bosun had moored the Dory off Glen Beach having moved the Monkstone mark at the harbourmaster's request and wanting the boat out for sail training support.

He correctly judged that at low water he would be able to wade out to the Dory in his chest high waterproofs and get to the boat.

Unfortunately, his best laid plans were hilariously foiled when, within five yards of the boat, an unexpected wave rose above his 'plimsoll line' and poured down the inside of his kit!

If the driver of the unidentified motorboat whose bow wave achieved this result has the picture, please let us have it - it would be a prize-winner and has already been captioned by the commodore as 'bosun out of his depth!'

Masts and Poles

The scaffolding outside the clubhouse is just waiting for some final building bits to arrive and soon will be gone revealing the full glory of the face lifted frontage to grace the harbour.

The other 'poles' in front of the club will also be on the move by the end of the month after the dredging of the harbour channels is completed allowing the cruisers to be lifted in and navigate the harbour for the season.

The ponderous moving of the tall masted cruisers reminds me of the emergence of the lumbering Ents from Fanghorn Forest in Tolkien's Lord of The Rings.

This is not to say that cruiser people are necessarily ancient, woody and long bearded, but they do tend to exhibit experience and long knowledge of sailing matters.

We welcome their re-emergence and participation in club activities.

Club Opening

The club's bar is open every Friday night from 7 pm on and every Sunday lunchtime from noon and good value food continues to be on offer from Graham's kitchen.

Club News

Your weekly email news and newsletters are about to cease if you have not yet paid this year's subscription, so please with the racing season upon us and the stir of activity in the dinghy park get your renewal form in to Trevor as soon as possible.

 

Nautical Nips

A poser to remind dinghy sailors of procedures on the water seems like a good idea at the start of the season, so try this one out.

You have been racing in choppy conditions with a blustery force 4, gusting 5, for some time, and are a bit cold and tiring.

Despite being a competent sailor you have capsized like most others in the race several times and are now in the water well beyond the gibe mark and being attended by one of the two rescue boats supporting the fleet of 12 racers. What should you expect the safety boat crew to do?

 

Skipper's Mate