Theresa

Delayed start due to F6 gusting F7 winds up until 11:00. The club was holding its annual jumble sale and try a sail day so it was a very crowded carpark! We eventually goot the crew, Tess, Sam along with his son Nathan and me to the top of the groyne but by then it was the Launch Driver’s lunch time, so a short delay waiting to be taken out to FlairIV. When we got onboard we decided to have lunch while we were on the mooring and then to go through the checks before leaving the mooring with the engine running but sailing on the main as we navigated through the various moored yachts. We had decided to do a ‘round the cans’ sail to give Sam and Nathan some experience of what happens in a race. With the jib unfurled we sailed downwind to the club start IDM [inner distance mark] and then followed course 2, which took us close to the Viking Cruise ship berthed on the Aluminium Pier. Sailing between this and the berthed Ferry gave a demonstration of the effect of two large ships close together in a strong SW wind. Sailing down to Penrhos mark the winds were gusty and showed the crew how to manage sudden gusts and counter the healing action. As the buoy is in a shallower area of the opening to the Cymyran Strait we watched the depth on the instruments and discussed the depth below the keel and the likely dangers. After gybing round Penrhos we headed due North to the Meath buoy, tacked round and back to Clipera before sailing back into the New Harbour to the finish line. Once over the line we picked up Sam Meade from the club rib and sailed around in the more sheltered waters of the harbour. Sam J then offered to do a mast climb to try and fix the new steaming light unit but this was unsuccessful as the position of the choc block connector made it very difficult to set the multi strand cables into their appropriate location.