The sight that greeted you at the club on Saturday morning was enough to lift your spirits. On the horizon you could see a fleet of MJ’s and near the shore another fleet this time of Skywriter. On shore more activity, with parents watching and helping kids in and out of the water. It was inspirational to see so much energy at the club.
But of course this was the weekend of the junior sailing camp and the last event specifically for our junior fleet for the year. This was a day for the kids, one I really look forward too in the sailing calendar. It provides us old codgers with an opportunity to include junior sailors as crew and hopefully to give them a pleasant taste of life aboard a bigger boat. Parents allow us to borrow their kids for a couple of hours, and then we can give them back. It couldn’t be a more perfect arrangement for us grumpy old sea salts.
For the afternoon around the lake Championship race 6, Frou Frou welcomed Crista and Alanah aboard for a second time and Michael aboard for the first time.
The Race
The weather was kind with 10 knots of north easterly setting us up nicely for the zigzag trip around the lake. At the start Rosstered Off and Nirvana 7 slipped ahead to round the reef mark in close proximity, then hoisting their spinnakers to head off down wind with Frou Frou, Spy C, Grey Fox and The Blond close behind.
It’s about now that I usually mention crew members of the participating boats, but there were too many hanging of the sides of the TY’s for me to count. Some of the younger (and older) crews were throwing water balloons at other competitors (great fun but probably not strictly legal as a sailing strategy. I have to admire it though as an effective tactic for distracting your competitors). What other tactics have been taught in the junior sailing program I wonder?
I digress, now back to the race. Rosstered Off had opened up a substantial lead by the time she had rounded the Oak Flats mark. Nirvana 7 then rounded ahead of Spy C and Frou Frou. I didn’t ask the crew of Nirvana 7 what happened to them next as she seemed to have lost a lot of her advantage during the Windang section of this up wind leg. Spy C chose the middle of the lake while Frou Frou headed for the eastern shore that proved better up wind option on the day. As it turned out the TYs were well matched in the conditions with Nirvana 7, Frou Frou and Spy C were all finishing within a couple of minutes of each other and Grey Fox and The Blond close behind on handicap.
Long course results
The day belonged to Rosstered Off who finished first on CBH, winning today’s Championship race 6. Second was Frou Frou, third was Nirvana 7, fourth was Spy C and fifth was Grey Fox.
Short course results
First on CBH was The Blond who led the short course fleet from start to finish. We are going to have to give these guys some reasonable competition in order to make their sailing experience more challenging.
On a final note I would like to say how impressed I was with the sailing skills of Alana Crista and Michael. Both Crista and Alanah although good the first time we sailed together had improved immensely from the last time they were on board. It will be interesting to see how Michael improves if he continues to sail like his dad and brothers. In any case the three kids displayed very good interpersonal and teamwork skills. They were great company and a pleasure to have aboard as crew (my regular crew are now on notice).
The End Trev