Sailing Club

Tell Tales

Friday night learn to sailors had another sail in a long run now of consecutive weekly sailing sessions. Given the weather this spring, it’s a miraculous that we’ve run 6 sailing sessions now. Conditions were glorious, east, stable and 8-10 knots. So much fun, banter, chaos, adventure and focused refinement! Young and Jem and Alexander from Forrest won the coolest and calmest cats award for managing themselves so well through an unexpected capsize with an experienced skipper! Great excitement and learning whilst reenforcing the fact that sailing is a water sport and that tipping a boat over is like falling off a surfboard; joyful and refreshing.

Saturday Racing

The weather was kind and we had a steady south-easterly that started lightish and gradually filled in across the afternoon, while the swell was gentle. Sailing conditions are never perfect, but the only slight regret was that the breeze lifted to be stronger just after the finish (a few grumbles from 10+1 in this regard). The duty crew, April Dancer, set a relatively long course for the conditions and the course was shortened to omit the final leg.

A fleet of 6 Flying Fifteens and 1 keel boat competed. A junior skipper’s challenge saw Otto (Black Pearl) and Milo (SOTA) competing for a special Junior Skipper trophy. We welcomed Lucy and Stew to the flying fifteen fleet competing on the unofficially named Davey’s Bay Banger. They’d not sailed a ‘dinghy; in many years but were overwhelmed with joy and appreciation after having such a fabulously fun afternoon.

The start was hotly contested, but clean, with Skiffle Beat and Ziff taking honours. Close sailing from the outset set the scene for a tight contest for the lead that lasted the entire race. Euffamism soon took the lead after a strategic early tack to port but squandered the opportunity to be leading at the first mark by what they later described as relying on their compass bearing too much. Sometimes gut instinct needs to be relied on.

The lead swapped multiple times across the race, with BP, SB and Ziff contending for first place and staying close for the duration.  Spinnaker handling was problematic for all the FF’s at one time or another and could have been the deciding factor in the results. Across the course 10+1 was gradually winding in the fleet after starting two minutes behind – maybe they would have got there if the last leg had been sailed!

In the end the handicap result saw SB take first place by a margin of only 4 seconds, with all boats finishing within a 5-minute window. Close racing – no wonder crews came back to shore feeling a little mentally exhausted but happy from a great day’s racing.

Junior Skipper’s were so grateful for the opportunity to steer SOTA and Black  Pearl for the entire race (excluding the start). Their improvement in upwind boat handling was extraordinary. The fact that a junior skipper was able to win line honours amongst a competitive and consistently crewed fleet speaks volumes to their rate of improvement on Saturday. When asked what they thought the best thing about sailing in the main race was, both  Milo and Otto said it was spending time with their adults crew. How lovely! Congratulations to both sailors. Otto is this week’s Junior Skipper winner in both line honours, yardstick and handicap – what a treat!

Results

Next weekend the club has scheduled an exciting multi race short course race day for the flying fifteens. It’s a great chance for the fleet to improve and refine its boat handling from immediate feedback. This year the flying fifteens are in fabulous condition thanks to winter maintenance and some clearly competitive intentions amongst the fleet. In the two races run this year the fleet has been pleasingly and surprisingly close over 90 -120 minute races. So, this coming weekend’s 4 or 5, 10-15 minute races will be a great step up into much closer racing; a core aspect of every great sailing club.

See you on the weekend!!

Life is good. Come Sailing!

To find out more please see our Facebook group - Apollo Bay Sailing Club.

New Members Always Welcome!

Many thanks to Bendigo Bank for their support of Learn to Sail at ABSC.