Alistair Tyrrell

18 Oct 2015 The last cruiser race of the year, and we had a good turnout of 7 boats. The weather was fair and the winds were light and from the East. I had two of the teenagers with me, Shaun and Dominik, and we set out to form up for the 2pm start. The first leg of the course was into the wind as usual and unfortunately into the tide as well. We were too far downwind to hit the start line on time and struggled to make our way towards it against the current in the light winds. We tacked back and forth for about 45 minutes and we were not the only ones in the predicament. A couple of the faster boats managed to get away and off towards the first mark but we could see them going sideways as fast as they were going forward. In the end the race descended into a bit of a shambles – half the fleet never started, one crossed the line then kept drifting back over it again, only one boat actually completed the course. We were waiting to see who would call up to announce their retirement, ke...

12 Oct 2015 Last weekend I did the safety boat training course. Fortunately the weather was dry, a nice breeze, and the sea temperature at this time of year is not too bad..... Starting with classroom theory on Saturday morning, six of us, we then went onto the river in the RIBs to practise our boat handling skills. Driving around buoys forwards, backwards and blindfolded with another person giving directions. In the afternoon a couple of volunteer members went to sea in club dinghies and very kindly capsized and fell in several times so we could practise rescuing them. They came off worse than us but they seemed to go home afterwards in good spirits! We also practised setting up a string of dinghies ready to be towed. Back in the classroom again on Sunday morning then out to sea to practice laying and recovering the sea marks. The cruisers were out there forming up for their race (sadly I was not taking part) so we helped by setting up their finish line. After lunch, we took tim...