CJCOA WINTER SERIES 3 REPORT

Race officers: Noel Vincent & Tom Arthur

Report by Tom

When I arrived at Westlake the wind was from the south, about 8 knots, intermittent drizzle and cold. While preparing the equipment the wind stayed directionally constant, just what race officers hope for. With the aid of my trusty wind pennant the marks were laid giving the first leg a true windward beat, however, fickle lake sailing experience has taught me to have a plan B, so a second top mark was laid…….just in case.

Of course and according to Murphy’s law, by the start time the wind was dropping away and with it, stability…..but on the upside the wind chill decreased and the sun was shining. We had 13 entries, fine upstanding gentlemen all, which was later borne out by the fact that the behavior I deemed to be exemplary for RS sailors, in fact I think I only heard Roy’s dulcet tones raised twice, but then, these are Canterbury J sailors and we would expect nothing less. Noel and I saw a lot of tactical sailing going on, especially rule 11 and for the most part all done by the book.

There were a lot of different boats having their moment of glory at the head of the fleet at different times, unfortunately the now fickle winds were making it hard to stay there. Talking of fickleness, when Glen was doing well, he praised our good courses, when he wasn’t doing well, they were either useless or not worth commenting on.

For most of the day the wind had dropped to 1-5 knots and was constantly moving round to the right….. as far as 90o. This kept Noel and I constantly racking our brains how to keep true beats in the course, and it was a great mental exercise for the sailors trying to keep up with the course changes we initiated. They should be thankful to Noel and I for our great concern in their mental welfare in helping stave off dementia.

As RO thank you to Noel as a very able and humorous assistant, and to all those blokes who helped getting the equipment set up and dismantled.