Alistair Tyrrell

29 April 2018 Carlo was with me again on Sunday for the cruiser race. Weather was a bit cooler with a wind forecast F5 from the NE. Normally I would not go out into a F5 if I could help it, but a wind from that direction usually means a flat sea with little swell, and with two of us big blokes aboard I thought it was worth a go. Before we left we set the first reef in the main. Hoisting the sail in the river meant driving the boat head to wind up the river so by the time we had it up and set tight and turned round it was a long motor down to the sea. Five boats turned out and the race officer had set the start mark as one of our fixed cruiser marks so it took us all a while to get to the start line, and most of us weren't there for the 1100 start time. Fortunately he waited for us. We'd unrolled about 2/3 of the genoa and the wind was probably around 20 kts and quite gusty sometimes. Elsa was fine with both sails reefed in but did heel and round up when the stronger gusts h...

15 April 2018 Carlo joined me as planned at 0930 on Sunday morning, the forecast was for southerly F4-5 and there were lots of crews getting ready for the race. Slightly misty and cool. Carlo's a fellow club member and he's thinking about getting a Seal 22 so he was keen to have a go in mine. I still had the reef in the mainsail but once we got to sea it was clear that the wind was less than forecast, it was about F3 and the sea was flat. So about 5 mins before the start sequence we suddenly decided to shake it out. Carlo had to go to the mast and fiddle with the downhaul, halyard, kicker etc., to get it hoisted fully. There's a bit of work for me to do before next time sorting all those bits of string out because I don't think I've got it rigged right since we launched the boat last month. But we got the main nice and tight and it seemed to be well set. There were eight cruisers sailing about downwind of the start mark and trying to get lined up for the gate ...

31st March 2018 Having only just been craned in two days ago we were just about ready to sail. We'd rigged everything whilst in the berth but we hadn't yet hoisted the sail properly. Five cruisers turned out for the first race of the year. A grey day but a decent F3-4 westerly wind, maybe a bit cold. I was pleased to have Georgia with me probably for the only time this year as she's going back to work in Greece shortly. Leaving the berth about 1015 we decided to set one reef in the main and with some difficulty, it was a bit stiff to haul up, Georgia got it hoisted and set as I held Elsa into the wind mid river. The new engine drove us nicely out of the harbour, it's the same make and model as the old one but it starts properly and sounds a lot smoother! Race officer Nick had set up a line start off the committee boat. Some of the cruisers were racing with us for the first time and it was good to see them out. Many other regular racers were not coming out for va...

Barts Bash was the last race of 2017. 2017 summary - went out in Elsa about 10 times, total distance travelled about 90 nm. Plus several other adventures on other boats! Later in September I did a bit of varnishing and cleaning then began to dismantle everything ready for crane out. Took the sails off and brought them home. Took the rudder off and stored it inside the boat. Took the outboard off and traded it in for a brand new Mercury 4 stroke 5hp engine which I took home and kept in the shed. Removed the blue sprayhood, took it home, used the jetwasher to clean off the green dirty stuff and put it in the shed. In October I went for surgery on my ankle and was plastered up and in crutches etc., until January. Friends helped crane Elsa out and she ended up sat ashore with her keel up resting on some yacht club floats and my metal prop stands. Nearly fell off once in some strong wind but we got her upright again. She sat there untouched until we got a bit of warmer weather late Fe...

17th Sept 2017 Early start this Sunday morning for Barts Bash - an annual event which we run as a combined dinghy and cruiser race alongside our neighbouring clubs AYAC and ODC. With an early high tide the race was due to start at 0930. Gordon and Jenny were with me for the first time. They are Wayfarer sailors and have a cruiser as well though it's out of action at the moment. We assembled around 0800 to get ready. Wind was around NEly forecast at F3 so I planned to go with full sail. The race briefing at 0815 told us to expect a triangular port-hand course round some laid marks, the dinghies starting 10 minutes ahead of the cruisers. My outboard is increasingly difficult to get started but eventually we motored out just before 0900. With Jenny on the helm and Gordon and I setting the main and bringing in the fenders, we went to sea to find flat conditions and a cool wind from the NE. The race was delayed getting started as the race team had to wait for all the AYAC dinghi...

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/...