In contrast to last week when we had little or no breeze, on Saturday we had a breeze of 15-20 knots for most of the afternoon. It was a challenge for some but most coped well and had some exciting reaches.

Sailors in Div1 were Manfred in full rig Laser and Callum, Aidan, John W and Peter E in Radials. They were joined by Lucy sailing her Fireball with David May as crew in what would seem to be a late run at the State titles. We wish them luck. Richard F (OK) was the final division 1 boat. Div 2 consisted of Sabres sailed by Billy, your scribe, Rod S on the Club Sabre which broke in race 2, Andrew D and Tony C.

In Div 1 race 1 Lucy and Dave quickly demonstrated that a Fireball is fast and Lucy tells me that Dave soon rediscovered his skills as a trap artist. Unfortunately most of their speed was needed as they sailed angles not dissimilar to an A class foiling cat. In fact, and your scribe was on the spot, they could not get high enough to make the start line at the pin end and ended OCS. The rest did not have the same problems, save that Richard retired, leaving Aidan to lead Callum by 47 seconds with Manfred about a minute back and ahead of john W by a minute. Peter E was a minute and a half down. In race 2 Lucy and Dave again had trouble at the start (and may have tipped later) but this time circled around to get over the start. Peter E and John W retired leaving Aidan to again head Callum, this time by a minute. Manfred was nearly a minute back and the Fireball trailed by a minute and a half.

Division 2 saw Andrew in his new boat again dominating. In race 1 he was 2 and a 1/2 minutes ahead of Tony with the scribe a minute or so behind and Billy another minute back. Rod S, in his first go on a Sabre was on a learning curve and trailed Billy by ¾ of a minute. For race 2 your scribe and Billy elected to go to shore while Rod started but then broke a bit and struggled to shore. This left Andrew to come in ahead of Tony by 5 minutes or so. Tony had problems when his boat tipped and then escaped which might explain the times. Your scribe is re-commencing his new sail program with his family after Andrew commented that the scribe’s sail would not even be a good boat cover. Christmas didn’t work, but a birthday is coming.

Peter V set the course with the assistance of new member Peter C (not the old member Peter C) while Glen was the crash boat. We are lucky to have the people who sacrifice their own sailing pleasure to give the rest of us time to sail. Julie was as busy as always and Alex did the control tower.

Coming up:

Saturday 14 March 2026.
1400 Bengalut Balug series continues (counts toward Commodore Cup).
0900 Junior and Senior L2 Sail

Saturday 21 March 2026.
1400 Bengalut Balug series continues.
0900 Junior and Senior L2 Sail
Saturday 21 March 2026 and Sunday 22 March 2026.
Fireball State Titles
OK Dinghy State Titles
Volunteers may be asked for.
(Note that there is a wedding on the rigging area on Sunday; space may be limited).

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:
Last week we fixed our position by reference to a bearing and calculation of ‘distance off’. But if you have two known height objects in sight you can:
• Measure the vertical sextant angle to the top of each object and calculate their respective distances off.
Distance off (miles) = Height of object (metres) X 1.86/sextant angle
• Plot two circular position lines at the calculated distance about each object
• Read off the fix from where the arcs cross
This has the advantage that you can plot straight to the chart without having to remember to adjust for compass variation and deviance using the deviation card you had, thoughtfully, previously prepared.