This Saturday turned out to have the best sailing conditions for the year so far. Although the forecast was for5 kn breeze for most of the afternoon and then an increase to 10+ kn, the BoM was a little behind time as we sailed in 10 to 15 kn through the afternoon on a day that was not too hot and not too cold.

Division 1 had Tim W (Aero 7), Aiden S (Radial), Manfred (Full), John W (Full), Peter C (Radial), Paul S (Aero 7) and in a welcome return, Richard F (OK Dinghy) while Division 2 was composed of Sabres sailed by your scribe, Ollie and Tony C, and, in his first race of the season, Andrew G’s 420 crewed by Lew W. In addition we had a Division 3 fleet of Harry C, Bobby F-W and Clancy T sailing Opti’s.

Division 3 only sailed the first race with Harry 2 minutes up on Bobby while Clancy gave it a go but did not finish. Special thanks to Angelique who followed the fleet and gave advice e through the race. There was some close racing in Div 1 with Tim a minute up on Aidan in Race 1. Manfred was 15 seconds behind and was trailed by John W half a minute back with Paul a minute behind and Richard 4 minutes behind him. In race 2 Aidan got his own back leading Peter C by a minute. (Peter commented that it was worth while trailing Aidan to watch how he worked the boat around the course). Tim was 30 seconds back but ahead of Manfred by 8 seconds. Apparently John W had a slight over the line at the start and then followed this with an “I’ve run out off room and there is a mark in the way” experience. He retired.

Division 2 also featured some close racing with Tony C trading blows with Ollie for the first race and being beaten home by just 45 seconds. Your scribe trailed Tony by under a minute with the 420n three minutes back. In Race 2 Ollie was back, leading by nearly two minutes from Tony who led the scribe by a more typical three minutes. But there was excitement at the back as the 420 overtook and led your scribe at the ID mark. The 420 went in and tacked for the finish while the scribe went out requiring two extra tacks, but in slightly more breeze, and finished half a boat ahead.

Thanks to Nate in his first time role as RO, assisted by Peter E, and to John McKenna on the crash boat. Julie welcomed all and Anne took times. And it was great to see Peter V back after his knee op.


Coming up:

Saturday 22 November 2025.
1400 Lady Nelson series commences.
0900 Junior and Senior L2S

Saturday 29 November 2025.
1400 Lady Nelson series continues (includes Boat Club Cup).
0900 Junior and Senior L2S

With no sailing over the winter your scribe had a bit of spare time which he put to use by borrowing a couple of books from the Club so he could learn to navigate. Here are some of the things he learnt:
A note on instruments:
A couple of months back, Mr & Mrs Scribe were invited to RGYC for the unveiling of a refurbished 1800’s barometer (and something else and something else), a magnificent instrument. A speech was given by a retired tug boat driver and amateur ship wreck diver who told a story of a navigator laying off his course on the chart using a beautiful old wooden parallel ruler. Unfortunately he didn’t see the charted wreck his course went through and the ship hit it. The moral is: Always use see-through plastic rulers when navigating.