After the first Saturday of the New Year we have had two days of racing cancelled with strong winds. On the seventeenth your scribe assisted with putting up W2R signs and checked the wind speed at the clubhouse at 24.8kn as a ten minute average. It was not a day to sail. As a result your Scribe has not had to write anything for a couple of weeks.

But on the weekend of the Festival of Sails we were on the water in hot but light conditions. We were missing a few as it was a long weekend but still had a Division 1 fleet of 4 and a Division 2 of 8 boats. Division 1 had Peter E in his full rig joined by new member Rod S, who is coming back from a broken leg, and Laser R’s sailed by Aidan S and visitor Tom Jackson who sails at a top level. Division 2 featured Tom’s sister Zoe, also an elite sailor, and Callum S on 4.7’s with the balance being Sabres sailed by James D, Geoff D, Tony C, Ollie, Andrew D and your scribe.

The first race in Division 1 was close with Peter E 30 seconds ahead of Tom who pipped Aidan by 8 seconds with Rod a further 40 seconds behind. In the second race Aidan led Tom by 10 seconds with Peter E a further 10 seconds back. Rod trailed by about a minute and a half. There was some very tight racing in Div 1 and the start was not the place for an innocent Sabre to mix it with the Lasers which was where your scribe and Ollie found themselves in the second race leading to your scribe hitting a mark.

Division 2 race 1 the Laser 4.7’s were pretty quick with Zoe 5 seconds ahead of James D on the Sabre Shark. James said after the races that he had had a magic race picking channels of breeze for the entire race. Callum was 26 seconds behind James and was trailed by Ollie, Andrew, Tony and your scribe who had a completely unsatisfactory race never getting going. Geoff D retired with rigging problems. In race 2 Andrew got his new boat cruising and led Zoe by 45 seconds. Zoe was 48 seconds ahead of Callum who led Ollie by 26 seconds with James 34 seconds back. Tony was about a minute and a half behind with your scribe 25 seconds back.

Paul Simmons was race officer and set a challenging course with Peter V, with exceptional experience, managing to put the windward mark in the middle of a wind ‘hole’. Paul was assisted by the scribe’s brother in law Peter C who had come down to try out a Sabre having got rid of the Couta boat. Alex and Anne did the tower while Julie began organising volunteers for the swim.

Coming up:
Saturday 31 January 2026.
1400 Matthew Flinders series continues (includes Boat Club Cup).
0900 Junior and Senior L2S

Saturday 7 February 2026.
1400 Matthew Flinders series continues (includes Commodore 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:
Navigating a channel. A beginner lines up the boat with buoys and proceeds safely. So does an experienced navigator, but the navigator also:
1. Notes the compass course.
2. Notes range or leading mark ahead.
3. Watches water flow at buoys too estimate current.
4. Is alert for cross-channel set.
5. Notes buoy numbers as the boat passes them.
6. Knows the next course.
7. Knows where to look for buoys on the next leg.
8. Watches the depth to note changes.
9. Checks compass deviation
A navigator may not do all of these things every trip, but he keeps accumulating knowledge of familiar ports.