Greetings all,

For Sundays CJCOA winter race I was a little surprised that 14 sailors fronted up despite the dubious forecast and the cold, however, not one droplet descended to mar our chosen Sunday activity. Having complimented the weather on its withholding the rain, one cannot be so forgiving on its abundance of wind chill, Al Ross was so bundled up that his face was hardly recognizable and after setting the marks I kept my lifejacket on as a very effective wind chill stopper. A big thanks to Wes for helping out when he quit sailing in the latter half.

Since we are in congratulatory mode, these need recognition; Allen, Barry and Peter for podium finishes in the handicap section, and the following three for overall glory; Jim, Chris and Glen. Now we switch from congratulations to commiserations and sympathise with Keith who would have been second overall if, after winning heat 4, the RO had not scored him nsc (not sailed course) for missing a mark rounding tsk tsk. I must say Keith took the sad news in admirable style.

From the sailors comments, the wind was very shifty, and that was born out by the many tacks that were in evidence, but it was a good strength, with very few calms and no broaching gusts, also we seemed to be an object of interest to many of the public on their strolls through the park.

I cannot conclude this report without commenting on Racing Rules of Sailing adherence. Of the 14 sailors only half sailed in accordance with the RRS, the rest were making a very poor attempt, so in general I thought the behaviour unusually poor. The worst 2 breaches were, boats tacking onto port in front of boats on starboard because of wind knocks or mark roundings and the other was boats hitting marks and not doing penalties.

Remember this sailors; your breaches are always seen by someone and your integrity will be judged by your actions.

Tom Arthur RO