Sailing Club

Tell Tales

Finally, the stars aligned and a bunch of FF sailors were in the right place at the one time; seven in fact!

With the harbour in full swing with various recreational user groups it was interesting to see the new-ish pontoons working so well for everyone. The extra length and width between them meant everyone could come and go easily and the friendly banter between user groups fantastic to hear.

But what about the race? Well simply put, it was a pearler! There were a few pre-race questions; whether the 12knt nor westerly would remain or swing to the predicted nor east? if the sun came out and warmed up would it just peter out? and, who the hell was Peter anyway?

But luckily the steely nerves of Croc and John M were up to the task of “not giving a hoot” and just getting on with the job of setting a stbd course. With the top mark set at about 320°the usual first up-wind became a reach start. So much so in fact, that Affrodite (Tim, Katie) held a spinnaker most of the way to the “top mark”! Dropping and reaching back to the mark just behind Ziff (Peter, Brigitta). A particularly good effort I thought and proving to me (yet again) what some people consider a soldiers course may just be one that brings into focus their own inability to sail anywhere but directly at a mark, perhaps?

So from the top mark it was almost a beat to what would usually be the gybe mark. Ziff, April Dancer and Affro had a little jump on the rest, but the chasing pack were throwing everything into it. Skifflebeat was holding the rest at bay by sailing so high at one stage I thought they’d tacked! Euffamism, Windswept and State of the Arc were ducking and weaving with shouts of “starboard” coming from everywhere.

There was an eighth boat in the race but with so many small boats to contend with Ten + One (Ken and crew) decided to hang back and get the big, red MPS out for a whirl. A big sail like that needs some pretty smooth crew work and razor-sharp attention. It’s certainly not for the faint hearted, so it was fantastic to see them getting in some practice.

Not many surprises out front with Ziff in the lead. But AD did manage to bite off a little of their lead late in the race. Behind them Affro was having mixed results with their adventurous spinnaker angles, allowing Euffa to creep up behind them after finally shaking off SkiffleBeat (but SB did lose a block off the main sheet late in the race so who knows what the outcome if that had not happened?).

Windswept was just behind and fighting hard, SotA  snapping at their transom. All in all a lovely day, but the nicest part was yet to come.

Long time and much-loved members Jan and Laurie Shaw were waiting to catch up with everyone back at the clubhouse, sharing some wonderful stories. What a perfect way to finish the day!

Results

Life is good. Come Sailing!

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