Off The Beach News
Howdy troops,
Another ripper day on the beach at SBSC last Sunday. Unfortunately, not so good if you wanted to go sailing. The forecast, (who can ever believe that) said ten to fifteen knots all day, and sure enough we got that in the morning. It was so good in fact that the junior training program had 18 participants, all out on the water having an absolute blast. This has been such a success story this year, with great numbers turning up and a credit to Fi, James, Nick and the Gang for keeping them active and enthusiastic when the conditions haven't been conducive to being on the water. So, it was fantastic to see them finally getting in the boats for a proper sail.
Then the sun went past the yardarm and wouldn't ya know, it took the wind with it! Between 12.00 and 1.00 the breeze dropped from that steady 10 plus down to under 5 knots. And if you were a bit late leaving the beach, well let's just say I was glad of the postponement flag. Once out on the course things were moving slowly, too slowly, and swinging around to the North as the race progressed. If you went toward the cliff like poor old James T in his Sabre, and Glen L and Doc T in the Quest, well it was goodnight nurse, see you tomorrow.
The fading breeze (down to 2 to 3 knots) favored the light wind specialists like Di J and Fiona M (and one other hangeronerer) who managed to stretch their lead to over a leg in Div two. Ross M was having a ding dong battle with Mark Bulka in the Impulses with Bill M hanging in there too. Nick B in his Taipan, Mark L in the Windrush, Dave and Luke in their Nacra rounded out the the cats. Throw in a couple of 420s, a Terra and Matt W with Zack L in a 49er and we had quite a nice fleet. Unfortunately, the wind dropped to the point where the RO declared no boats would finish in the time limit and the dreaded 'Abandonment' flag went up, bugger!
After waiting around for a while, it became evident that the wind was dropping right out and those hardy souls that had hung around hoping for a start, were given their marching orders. Back to the beach, pack up, change into your drinking clothes, and rue the day you ever took up sailing! Really? No, not really, SBSC is still a great place to be even if there is no wind.
Thanks of course to Geoff and Super D on Start, Joe V and Keith B in Woodsy and Dave B and Jamieson F in Sutherland. Even though we didn't get a race in, they still had to set up, launch, set the course, clear the course and pack it all away as we were all sitting up on the deck soaking in the rays.
Thanks also to everyone that replied to my text asking for a volunteer on the RHIB. One was the actual number, and that was someone apologizing for not being able to help. This week I'm looking for TWO extra people. It's the SBSC Christmas party after racing, so the first warning is 10.27 for a 10.30 start. At this stage the weather looks good with a 15 knot Westerly (if you can believe it!) Race crew will need to be at the dock at 9.00.
That's enough for now. Cheers, Pete Chippy
