Alistair Tyrrell

20 Aug 2017 Despite only having sailed the Mirror once since I got it, I signed on for the annual club race up river. I've done this before as a RIB driver but not sailed it. It took only a few minutes to get the Mirror ready with the mast down and everything I needed inside the boat then I was joined onto a tow of 4 other dinghies and we set off up river to Arundel. Another RIB was towing another four boats, about 9 of us in total. It's about 45 minutes till we were under the bridges and landed on the bank above Arundel. Thick with reeds and sloping, with the tide coming in so fast I had to haul her further up the bank every few minutes, I stood ankle deep and got her rigged and ready to go alongside the others. The race officer Nick had to let us wait until the tide started to slow right down as there was not much wind to sail in. Once launched I tried to get the hang of things but it was very tricky with the incoming tide still sweeping us upwards, trying to turn into wi...

13 Aug 2017 A long narrative of a week afloat, starting the week on Sunday 6th August: A cruiser race today with a steady F3 from the west. Nine cruisers were taking part. Single handed again and with very light winds in the lee of the clubhouse I decided to hoist and set the mainsail while sat in the berth then reverse out as usual and head straight out to sea. Leaving the genoa furled away until the last minute I got nicely lined up for the start, set the genoa and made good progress to the windward mark. Conditions just about ok for single handed sailing, I seemed to have got the sail set well and was able to leave a few of my rivals behind me. A long run to the second mark, short fine reach to the third, another run to the fourth, then a long fine reach almost closehauled back to the finish line. On corrected time I was 6th out of the 9, all boats finished, we were all pleased with the turnout and were back in time for Sunday roast lamb in the clubhouse. R9 - 06/08/...