Alistair Tyrrell

19 April 2015 A northeasterly F5 was blowing first thing this morning as various crews began to assemble for today's race. Stuart and Georgia were with me and we went out around 1015 with a reefed mainsail and unrolled about 2/3 of the genoa when we got out to the start area. A line start off the committee boat, with flag signals and hoots 5, 4, 1, 0 and away, about a minute late across the line and beating hard to the east for the Steel Can mark. Quite close to several boats including the commodore's yacht. Making good progress as we were slightly ahead of the tide turning, we were around Steel Can after 22 mins and bearing away out to the Weather Station, on a broad reach, Georgia taking the helm while Stuart balanced the boat from the foredeck. Nice bright sunshine and the wind began to drop back towards F3, we were considering shaking out the reef and going to full sail but we knew we'd have a long beat back shortly so we left the decision for a...

5th April 2015 Having not sailed since October, and having had the sails off and cleaned and then re-fitted them, I was pleased to see a kind weather forecast for light winds today. Stuart and I were at the boat nice and early to check everything was OK and we left the berth at 1100 for the 1200 start out at sea. I, and others, have been working hard over the winter to encourage more skippers to come racing and that seemed to have paid off (helped by the forecast) as 8 boats turned out. The race officer took time to explain the start process over the radio several times to make sure all were clear then we were off at 1200 on the dot. Gentle but slightly chilly SE breeze about force 2 and we all set off beating to the East. The newly cleaned sails with new telltales seemed to set quite well and we were pleased with the speed, and with the pointing-ness. Elsa was well balanced, light on the helm, almost sailing herself in that light wind and flat sea. We were close to other boats a...