Went out four times this week
11 June 2016 Fair weather this week with gentle winds, and I've been out four times. On Sunday 5th June four boats went to sea for the cruiser race. Light and variable winds from the NE, an offshore breeze, meant the sea was fairly flat and it was a bright sky. New member but experienced sailor Susi was with me for the first time. The race officer did a line start at 1100 from the committee boat anchored southeast of the river entrance. We decided to attack the start on starboard and had a good chance to shout at a couple of the others coming at us on port tack as we arrived at the start line seconds after the start, which was invigorating! Nobody was moving particularly quickly though! Races nearly always start with a beat towards a mark a mile or so to windward, which today meant we were going into the wind and into the tide as we tried to go east. The wind was variable and mostly offshore, and it seemed that the strongest gusts were to be found closer to the sh