Alistair Tyrrell

29 May 2017 Single handed again today but with light winds I decided to go for the cruiser race. Only the fourth time out this year, and the first time out since the Owers Race a month ago. Some light rain after heavy thunderstorms last night but today the wind was variable light F1-2 mostly from the South. Five boats went to sea and I was pleased with my start around the middle of the group. The beat out to Omar took nearly an hour but the boat was going fairly well and the two Sea Wolfs behind me didn't catch up. Turning east for a reach towards Outfall heading into the tide, the wind chose that moment to fall away even more so another hour went past before I reached it. One of those Sea Wolfs managed to overtake me which was annoying! Much faster boats than Elsa so I was hoping to beat them on handicap anyway. Around Outfall and back to Omar this time with the tide helping me, about 20 mins later I was going around and headed back to harbour. Wary of the tidal stream I poi...

22 April 2017 Conditions seemed ideal today so without a crew lined up I decided to attempt the Owers Race single handed. We were expecting a nice N - NE light wind so the sea would be flat and it was a bright and dry day. As mentioned in previous blog posts, the idea is for skippers to decide their own departure times such that they go around the Owers Buoy just as the tidal stream changes direction thus getting a favourable tide both ways. I'd decided to aim to go around between 2 and 2.30pm. I moved Elsa out into the river onto a pontoon hammerhead and spent several minutes whilst tied up hoisting and adjusting the sail to get it just right. Dick had set a course across to Pagham, round a divers buoy there, out to East Boro Head, down to Owers then back. I set off in the middle of the group of 5 boats, starting my stopwatch at 1040. I had a nice reach across to Pagham, bubbling along nicely. One of the faster boats, Dancer, was behind me and it took him ages to overtake - t...

17 April 2017 My niece Charlie and her husband Barney came to see us and to go sailing today. There was a cruiser race going on but we'd decided beforehand that we were just going to go out for a bit to potter around. The clubhouse was fairly quiet so we left Catherine with a cup of tea and got the boat ready. Charlie and Barney live aboard a narrowboat near Oxford so I knew they'd be OK with tiller steering. Leaving Barney on the helm I went forward to hoist the main, and got it good and tight this time, Very light winds in the river so plenty of time to get it right before we motored out to sea. Charlie particularly enjoyed waving at the people along the harbour wall. We could see the cruiser race fleet in the distance but there was hardly any wind. We got the genoa unrolled and had a quiet and pleasant sail up and down near the harbour entrance, Barney on the helm. We tacked around a couple of times looking for wind but in the end we just enjoyed the peace and quiet. W...

9th April 2017 We fitted the new mainsail a few weeks ago and hoisted it a couple of times to see if it was rigged and setting properly but we hadn't sailed with it. Over the winter I've also repainted the rudder blade with fresh Trilux and put it all back together. The engine had started after much effort and a new spark plug. So we were just about ready for the first cruiser race. In the club we've been doing a lot to encourage the cruisers to go racing and that seemed to have worked as 11 cruisers went to sea. Georgia was with me, probably for the only time this year as she's away working in Greece till November. We hoisted the main as tight as we could and tweaked the boom down, this sail seems to be a tiny bit longer at the luff than the old one, but we were pleased with the way it set as we motored out. A gentle F2 from the south east, very sunny day and warm for April. We made a good start and set off on the first leg, beating into the SEly towards the weat...

2nd Jan 2017 In 2016 I seem to have stuck pretty much to my plan, which was to do more longer distance cruises, to enjoy day sailing, and maybe put less effort into racing. Particular favourites were the two trips to Shoreham, doing the Owers Race, and sailing Elsa in the river with a load of small kids aboard during Cadet Week. Having said that, we've had some particularly fun races, especially round the cans among the dinghies in the club Jubilee race and in Barts Bash. Later in the year we seemed to be very competitive with my friend Ron in Cabre and that's inspired me to get a new mainsail ordered ready for 2017! Over winter I intend to re-paint the rudder blade, maybe varnish some woodwork, and figure out how to rig and control the new loose-footed mainsail when it arrives. For 2016 the logbook shows: 19 trips out to sea 165 NM covered 2 nights aboard, both in Shoreham.

30 October 2016 Sadly it was the last race of the year today, and an early departure for a 1030 start. Jonny was with me for the first time and we found a fairly steady F2 from the East. Five boats came out to race. Dick tried to get the race off a few minutes early as we were all milling around out there ready to go, but the start was a bit chaotic due to several getting caught by the tide and general confusion around the gate start so he had to abort the start and do the countdown all over again. On the restart we were pleased to be first away and began a long beat to Steel Can out to the east, beating into the easterly wind and into the tide. All boats seem to determine that the best course was to tack quite close inshore to keep away from the worst of the tidal current, the GPS smartphone track log below illustrates what we did. Jonny was on the helm and seemed to be enjoying it. We felt like we were almost inside the beach huts at one point but we were probably several metre...

16 Oct 2016 Nine boats took part in the up / down river race this year, and three RIBs of volunteer helpers. The morning began with wet and blustery conditions but the forecast was promising so the nine boats were towed up to the grassy bank above Arundel and were beached on the bank so the masts could be stepped and boats rigged. The sun had come out by now though the winds were gusty and variable around F4.  The first race up to the Black Rabbit pub got under way in good order at 1145 but the smaller boats struggeld to overcome the current and only the five bigger boats completed the course. Race officer Nick Clare had timed it well with the tide so we had plenty of time for lunch at the pub, other AYC members had arrived on foot or by road so we had a good sized group sitting outside in the autumn sunshine while we watched for the tide to begin to turn.  We were ready to race back down the river by 1345. All nine boats completed ...