The day started very light but by about race start time had risen to a steady SE 15 kn breeze in which the 12 boats sailing had, what many called, the best shy reach down waves for the year.

Division 1 consisted of Laser R’s sailed by John W, in his first race back after injury, Peter C and Peter E who were joined in the second race by Callum and Aidan. Division 2 were Sabres of your scribe, Tony C, Andrew D, James D and Geoff D who were joined by Andrew on the 420 with, this week Ryan H as crew. Harry and Bobby were Division 3.

In Division 3 Harry had the best of the day wining each race by two to three minutes.

Andrew Dix continues to show that the new boat was worth the wait as he was three minutes up on Tony in the first race and repeated in race 2 by a minute and a quarter. The boat is however built very light and Andrew is still learning about it and seems to break bits. Last week a centreboard came nearly apart and in this week’s second race Andrew sailed without a Cunningham. In race 1 Tony was a minute up on your scribe who had managed to pass Geoff D on the beat to the finish line. Geoff may have been picked up at the airport at 4.00am, but that is no excuse. James, sailing Sabre No 96, formerly known as Abigail but now called ‘Death Trap’ trailed Geoff by 4 minutes and the 420 by 2 minutes. Race 2 had Andrew then Tony with Geoff then exerting his superiority two minutes up on your scribe. James tipped about four times and trailed by 12 minutes. The 420 had retired after losing his crew. The crew had to be home.

Division 1 race 1 had Peter C two a half minutes ahead of John W with Peter E a further minute and a half back. John retired from race 2, and Callum and Aidan joined. Aidan was a minute up on Callum with Peter C a further minute back. Peter E trailed by five minutes but had an excuse as he had been dicing with your scribe to be first over the line. He lost when he tipped 10 metres short.

Peter V set a great course similar, but a bit different, from that set last week and with better reaches. He was ably assisted by Scotty, a mate, who is a firey and will no doubt bring a great deal of attention to detail; and remember to turn the pot off when he comes down rather than remember it halfway through the race. Julie as normal was in the canteen cooking some fine dim sims which she apparently now times to sell when the sailors have de-rigged, are cold and hungry and don’t care about a cost. Anne did the control tower.

For those who had the chance it was a terrific experience to be able to help out at St Leonards for the A Class catamarans. If you get the opportunity to watch some top class sailors: Just Do It.

Coming up:

Saturday 14 February 2026
WRECK2REEF SWIM - ALL HELP APPRECIATED
(Remember that the sunset run is on that night and IHYC is a drink stop. Support for the runners is always appreciated).

Saturday 21 February 2026.
1400 Matthew Flinders series continues.
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:
All compasses are effected by nearby metallic and other magnetic influences, which can cause a 15 or 20 degrees error in the swing of their card because of their effect on natural attraction of magnetic north to which the compass responds.
The error caused by this effect is described as ‘deviation’.
It should be noted that deviation is independent of ‘variation’ between true and magnetic north on a chart. Variation is a wholly natural effect, outside of the boat itself, but deviation is caused by effects within the boat, its equipment, or the crew.

(Many years ago, IHYC paid for your scribe and others to attend a motor boat handling course run by YA (or whatever) at RGYC. The course was Friday night, Saturday and Sunday and featured a night time course setting cruise on the Saturday. The exercise was not without its difficulties; your scribe may have inadvertently stood on the button which let the anchor down and Royal Geelong’s biggest start boat stopped when its impellor broke. This was fixed but the exercise was finally abandoned when the instructor’s hand held compass showed that that on the great big start boat was about 30 degrees out).