At the South Channel the breeze averaged 18.1 kn for the twenty four hours of the day with a maximum gust of 29 kn at 0100 and a minimum of 10 kn at 2250 which is actually pretty irrelevant, but is something I have now found at the BOM site. From our point of view the wind was blowing 15-20 kn between 2.00 and 4.00 pm. From our point of view the problem was one of wind shifts which plagued the RO and a number of sailors through the races.

On a day which looked pretty ominous sailors in Division 1 were John W and Peter C in radials and visitors David May in a full rig with Ron Fergusson and Danny Rayson (from St Leonards and who we haven’t seen for a while and wow hasn’t Sam grown) sailing Aero 7’s. Division 2 had Andrew and Ollie sailing Sabres and Nate on a 4.7.

We ran three races on the day, two with windward returns and then a triangle (with a second windward return for Div 1) and the third a short windward return. Division 1 was dominated by Ron’s Aero who won the three races. In race 1 Danny was only 12 seconds back with David a further 30 seconds back. John trailed by 9 seconds with Peter C 4 seconds in arrears. All boats finished within 65 seconds. In the second race, Ron led Peter C by three minutes with David 20 seconds back. Danny finished a mere 4 seconds behind David with John trailing by a couple of minutes. In the third short race Ron again led with David 45 seconds behind but ahead of John by 9 seconds.

Division 2 had only the three competitors reduced to two after the first race when Nate’s lift was due. Nate however had the chance to dominate in race 1 and was two minutes up on Ollie who led Andrew by 18 seconds. With Nate retiring it was left to Ollie and Andrew to battle it out in the last two races. They changed position often with Ollie coming from a huge deficit after he had capsized. Race two had Ollie ahead by 2 minutes and Race three by 45 seconds.

All boats experienced the difficulties of the breeze shifting up to 30 degrees and then back again. Most sailors found themselves falling backwards as the wind shifted suddenly through the day. According to Andrew there was even a time when he found himself completely becalmed.

Thanks to the race officers Peter Viney and Glen Terry who ran the race. Your scribe was RO. Anne was on duty in the tower.

Coming up:

Saturday 28 December 2024.
1400 Lady Nelson series continues

Saturday 4 January 2025.
1400 Lady Nelson series continues (and incorporates Red Cross Trophy and Boat Club Cup)

And in a new and occasional bit:
Your Scribe has decided that he often gets things wrong and he would be wise to write down any hints and learnings soon after a race for review, this is a progression to a ‘professional attitude’ to sailing; and he is prepared to share them with you as a learning experience:
Learning 25 Check that flags are in the committee boat.
Learning 26 Check that there is a green course flag in the bag with the signal flags on the committee boat.