By Ian Macwhinnie

There was another good turnout for Draycote Water SC’s Get Racing initiative on Sunday 5 July, with 25 sailors turning up for the briefing and first race. They faced challenging conditions of almost zero wind ─ and such wind as there was regularly went through 90 degree shifts.

The pre-start briefing gave permission to heel the boat slightly to leeward in these conditions to help fill the sails and those who were able to combine this with not shifting around too much were able to keep moving.

The fleet quickly split into two packs after the start and each one was able to enjoy some close slo-mo racing. There was time and opportunity to explore the rules of the road as three boats from each pack made the downwind leg in parallel. This prompted some lively on-the-water discussion as to who had the right to luff his neighbour.

There was a high attrition rate as half the fleet decided that they would be more comfortable ashore than in a small boat apparently going nowhere (the windward mark at K close to the clubhouse probably encouraged this move). But those who stayed the course were rewarded as the wind filled in nicely for the last beat to the finish line.

Although Warren and Lorraine were first across the line in their Wayfarer, followed by Nigel and Aaron in an RS 500, the victory salute goes again to James Knight in his cat-marked Tera, the fruit of his first prize at this year’s RYA Dinghy Show design competition.

The afternoon race promised some steadier wind although only four boats signed up for it. Everything was going well in a decent F2-3 when a squall came in suddenly with 25 knots of wind and accompanying waves and rain. The Get Racing sailors did very well despite some capsizes to get themselves back to shore, with only one needing to be towed in. To put this into perspective, hardly any boats in the main club racing managed to cross the finish line either!

A special thank you to the OD team for their support!

Get Racing at Draycote Water Sailing Club is intended to ease novice and junior members into the main club sailing. It runs on the first Sunday of each month in the summer with an on-shore briefing at 10am and an extra start at the end of the club start sequence.

Results based on (unofficial) corrected times below: