Saturday - Regatta day

The two Tenby Redwings, 'Rossie' sailed by Alex McDonald and Ruth Allen and 'Pintail', sailed by Bill Dowell and Tommy D'Ortez, took part to add a splash of colour to the varied fleet of dinghies. The Redwings looked forward to some decent breeze for the Saturday regatta races, with the sailors pleased to be greeted by the forecast 10 or so knots of northerly breeze. An excellent turnout of local Tenby boats were joined by plenty of visitors to give a fleet of 33 competing dinghies. The principal race officer, Blake Shaw, was assisted by his race team on board committee boat 'Maximus', skippered by Geoff Martin, and supported by a fleet of rescue boats crewed by sailing club volunteers. The course set was a port-hand triangle with windward mark towards Monkstone, the gybe near Tenby harbour and the leeward at the south. After a delay caused by a 30-degree shift in wind direction, requiring moving and re-laying a couple of the marks for the course to be true to the wind, the fleet of dinghies got away for the first of three races. The start was close and congested with over 30 boats jostling for position, but as they got away, the faster boats pulled away and after a lap the fleet had spread out and were engaged in individual tussles, especially at the rounding marks. On each lap, the boats had to pass through a 'gate' formed by the committee boat and an outer marker buoy and here their lap time was taken. After roughly 45 minutes of racing, the next boat to pass through the line was finished and on the first race that was the Redwing of Bill Dowell and Tommy D'Ortez, and given a finishing time. Therefore, the faster boats sailed a greater number of laps and their final positions would be calculated later based on an 'averaged' lap time. The second race was held 'back-to-back' with the first and at the start there was a lot of pushing that meant there were too many boats over the line when the signal to start was sounded and the race officers had to sound a general recall', bringing everyone back and re-starting them. The same thing happened on the next attempt and the sailors were given a 'black flag' warning, meaning disqualification if they were on the course side before the start. However, on the third attempt, there was a minor disaster as an extra signal was made from the committee boat, confusing the sailors who were not watching the flags. Finally, we got away in slightly less breeze and now strong north-flowing tide and had a really tactical race, with the Redwings showing their pace upwind until overtaken again on the downwind legs by the spinnaker boats. The tide had increased for the third and last race and added to that the strengthening breeze made for slightly choppier waves. The crews were slightly more cautious for the start and after one false start we were off. The faster boats powered away, now that they were getting used to the conditions, and after a handful of laps, the slower ones were being lapped. There were one or two minor incidents, including one local competitor, who, having unsuccessfully got the committee vessel, which was at anchor, to get out of his way, actually collided with it! So ended a day of excellent sailing in glorious weather and the two Redwings finished mid-fleet when the final results were worked out.

Sunday - Round Caldey Race

Sunday was the day of the annual round Caldey Island race. The breeze was a very light south-westerly. First away at 12.15 pm were the cruiser fleet, followed 15 minutes later by the dinghies. The two local Redwings, 'Rossie' sailed by Alex McDonald and Danny, and 'Pintail', sailed by Bill Dowell and Tommy D'Ortez, again joined the dinghy fleet. After the start we had a gentle beat down into Caldey Sound and helped by the south-going tide were off St. Margaret's fifty minutes into the race. However, the wind shifted more towards the east and we continued to sail close-hauled round the south side of the island before losing the breeze altogether in a massive 'hole' behind the island. We watched as 'Tejada', skippered by John Griffiths, gradually overhauled us further out to sea, still in a very light breeze and setting her spinnaker as the wind shifted. Eventually, after about half-an-hour of very slow progress, during which the Redwings watched the faster boats gradually draw ahead, the breeze filled in from astern and we gradually cleared Jones' Bay as the tide was again under us and we crossed Caldey Roads and North Highcliff in a strengthening breeze, again from the west. Approximately three hours after starting, the two Redwings crossed the finish line off North Beach, not quite the last boats home, and we were glad to see the faster boats still unrigging on the beach, meaning that we were possibly not too far behind on corrected time. Many thanks from the competitors to the volunteers from Tenby and Saundersfoot Sailing Clubs who manned the safety boats that kept a watchful eye on us as we went round the island and also the race organisers and shore helpers, without whose efforts this event would not be possible.

Bill Dowell Redwing 228 'Pintail'