Adult Race Training Day

‘Best laid plans of mice and men’

The plan for the day basically got ripped up as soon as we saw the cold north easterly blowing down the tarn. Looking at the newly installed weather station didn’t help either as it confirmed the wind speed and the outside temperature. With the club filling up with keen (?) sailors wanting to get going we rapidly came up with ‘Plan B’ or was it ‘C’ ?

Howard and Neil went through the basic principles of setting courses and start lines for OOD’s, then starting from a sailor’s point of view. Then they couldn’t drag it out any longer and it was time for the first on the water exercise. Terry and Gail volunteered to be OODs for the session and we ran simple a simple start and up and back exercises. With the wind still strong it certainly wasn’t simple for the sailors and John G, Yvonne and Luke were kept busy in the second safety boat.

We then had a quick lunch break which allowed John and Neil give some feed back on the first session. This was followed by a brief interlude to launch ‘Swansong’, the late Donald Acklam’s unfinished Heron project, which now has been beautifully finished off by Tim G, and then it was back out on the water again.

This time Mick and Ian took over the OODs role and we extended the course to test people’s boat handling skills. The wind also decided to help at this point by adding some big gusts just to make things even more interesting. Once most people had tested the water at least once we decided enough was enough

and we finished the day slightly early. Over a warm drink Neil and John gave everybody a final debrief before we packed everything away

Over the day we had 12 boats out on the water and a few more sailors getting involved in the discussions in the club without getting their boats out. Most people seemed to enjoy it and got something out of the day, despite the conditions.

Thanks to everybody who helped with the running of the day !

It was testament to those who did go out that some of the more seasoned experienced sailors who came down in the afternoon decided it was too cold and windy for them to join in with the sailing !!!!!!!