Dubarry Keelboat Racing Day 1

Chloe Morton

Incredibly hot conditions on the Solent today, even on the water the weather reached 34 degrees Celsius which was so so hot! Wind was basically non existent (about 1 - 2 knots with no gusts) which meant we didn’t go out on the water until 12.30pm. Very hot sailing today, all of us said how we’ve never experienced conditions so close to an abroad sailing holiday as it was so hot on the water. Had to keep splashing ourselves and drank about to litres each to stay cool and hydrated. Wind strength remained very low, so we concentrated on rolling tacs to increase speed when going up to the windward mark. I was in two different positions today. I was on the main sheet and track to start, and then moved to bow where I was in charge of the asymmetric spinnaker - hoisting, gybing and dropping on the run to the leeward buoy. I really loved the bow position as it took a lot of strength and running around which I found really fun and exciting! This was the first time we’ve all been in a keelboat together, and the first time 4 of us had been in a J70. However we worked well as a team; and managed to finish in the middle of the pack. Roll on day 2!