The weather looked fairly ominous as we rigged and your scribe, for one, was not sure whether he really wanted to sail on a day when it rained from Geelong to Indented Head and blew 15-20 kn at the south channel most of the afternoon and thunderstorms were predicted. But the scribe sailed anyway, although not very well.

Others sailing were Mike W, Peter C and Peter E in Division 1, Andrew D, your scribe and Harry C in Division 2 and Bobby F-W and Clancy T-W in Opti’s in Division 3.

Andrew G as race officer started all competitors all under Flag I (RRS 30.1) which means that if you are identified After Flag I comes down signalling 1 minute to start in the triangle between the ends of the start line and the first mark you should sail round the ends of the line and restart or be scored OCS. To answer an after sailing question it is probably right to say that the Prep Flag sets the conditions under which a start will be made and that will apply in the last minute after it goes down. If someone is within the triangle in the last minute the RO should show individual recall after the start.

Division 1 race 1 Mike’s OK 3 minutes up on Peter C’s Radial with Peter E a further 3 minutes back. In race 2 Peter E retired leaving Mike to lead Peter C by 1 minute 47 seconds. Likewise in Div 2 Andrew could not be headed as he led Harry C over the line by 5 minutes. Harry, who had scared the scribe out of his wits with a starboard call when the scribe had not even seen him forcing an immediate and not well executed tack, led the scribe by 12 seconds. The scribe caught up a bit with an unusual but ultimately effective tack to shore to well overstand the line but come in pretty quickly. Andrew sailed race 2 as sole competitor. Division 3’s sole race saw Bobby sail well to finish alone after Clancy retired.

Thanks to Andrew G who set the course in challenging conditions with some big shifts requiring at least one re-set. He was assisted by Peter V while Glen drove the crash boat. Molly again followed junior sailors through the racing while Anne manned the tower.

Coming up:

Saturday 4 April 2026.
1400 Bengalut Balug series continues (includes Boat Club Cup).

Saturday 11 April 2026.
1400 Bengalut Balug series continues.

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:
Compass bearing on two points:
When two suitable points are in view simultaneously a separate compass bearing may be taken from each. Ideally the two chosen points should be at an angle of ninety degrees to each other but, in practice, this condition is not necessarily found so a larger or smaller angle often must be accepted.
• Observe the bearings from each point.
• Plot a straight position line to lay off the true bearing obtained from the first point.
• Repeat for the second point
• Read off the fix from where the lines intersect.