Tea out at sea
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, keen not to be the first to do so.
The commodore in Free n Easy was with us at the back of the fleet and called over the radio to say he would drop anchor and anyone who could reach him under sail alone would get a cup of tea! We rose to that challenge immediately and with Dominik on the helm, fenders out, we approached Free n Easy and nudged gently alongside and tied up. Dropping the sails we took the offered cup of tea and sat around for half an hour enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
Not a bad way to end the season!
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, keen not to be the first to do so.
The commodore in Free n Easy was with us at the back of the fleet and called over the radio to say he would drop anchor and anyone who could reach him under sail alone would get a cup of tea! We rose to that challenge immediately and with Dominik on the helm, fenders out, we approached Free n Easy and nudged gently alongside and tied up. Dropping the sails we took the offered cup of tea and sat around for half an hour enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
Not a bad way to end the season!
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