A-Rater

 The A-Rater Carina is out practising at the Upper Thames Sailing Club for the Bourne End Queen's Cup Trophy. The A-Raters are tall, and magnificent dinghies that are the fastest sailing dinghies on the River Thames

Plastic around the Propeller

 We took the Whaly out on the River Thames but came back with an extra passenger

Callum and Dan

 Windy, Spinnaker Fun and a Dip

Daniel, one of the Cadets at the Club, had just taken Paul and me out to help us learn to read the wind - I'm sorry, but that failed, and to learn to hike out - which succeeded. He really loved going out in the RS Toura. It has everything - A spinnaker and a double trapeze, so my Wife and I suggested that he take out the boat with a friend, Callum, who was on the safety boat that day. I swapped with Callum, so I went out in the Safety boat and Callum and Dan took the RS Toura for a spin.

The boys deploy the Spinnaker.

Dan noticed we had a spinnaker and was keen to deploy it in these gusty conditions. We hadn't used the spinnaker; the only time we had used it was on dry land on an RYA1 course when we were looking at the different types of sail. The sail did not deploy well, so the boys moored on a private jetty, with the owners laughing at them fixing the sail. Once fixed, they sailed up the river at speed.

Fun Sailing Adventures

 Lessons for Me

​I am so bad at sailing; many club members spent time with me over the weekend trying to improve my skills, which made a difference, so thanks to all of them. One of the sailing Instructors at the club lives a few doors away from the club and watched Paul and I sail across the river and back for an hour or so not really making it past her window, so she offered to help me and by tying the boat to the shore with not sails getting me to learn to lean out of the boat further and further to balance the boat as my son did the same the other side. We then put this into practice as Dan, one of the Cadets took us out as the helm in windy conditions. All of that and their adventures will have to be made into a film.

Learning to Lean out

I feel happy in the boat. I feel much less happy sitting on the side of the boat, I feel even less happy leaning out, trying the balance the boat. but after some practice we got there.

Time to Practice

Having tried to hang out of the boat, the time had now come to put some of this into practice. So we set the mainsail and crossed the river a few times. As the boat tacked, I sat on the gunwale a few times, and we did this at a slow and leisurely pace. Then Dan, one of the Cadets, came along and asked, "Would we like it if he took us out in our boat?" He took the Helm. It was a good opportunity, but the wind was gusty and the gust seemed to coincide with our tacks, so each time Paul and I had to practice pulling on the jib sheet really hard and moving from one side of the boat to the other to keep it balanced.

 About to Ram the end of the Marina between two boats

Overtaken

In the time it took us to sail from the short marker to the medium marker, this young lady and her Dad in the Mirror Dinghy travelled from the short to the home and then up to the long, overtaking us.

 

OOD Training

 

As I move into my second year at the club, I have been promoted to the Sailing Secretary, a Duty Team Leader, responsible for upsetting all sorts of people, giving them jobs they don't want to do and receiving my Officer of the Day Training. Getting ready for the first race of the season and ensuring that the Club has enough competent members to run the races.

When I think of an Officer of the Day I am reminded of the MASH episode when Dr Hawkeye Piece has made Officer of the Day for one Episode and the Chaos that ensued. Perhaps for this reason each year the Upper Thames Sailing Club does some OOD training to ensure that the day runs smoothly and there is someone in overall charge.

Starting the Race

• ​5 minutes to start – Sound the horn and 1st (class) flag up.

• 4 minutes to start – ​Sound the horn and 2nd (Blue Peter) flag up. This will be a blue flag with a white square in the centre.
• 1 minutes to start – ​Sound the horn and 2nd (Blue Peter) flag down
• The start – ​Sound the horn and Class flag down and the race is on.
• If anyone is past the start line wave the White flag with the blue cross. Do not call out the number of the boat. Can shout out the number of boats past the line.

Setting the Boards

The First Number is the class,
the the order of the marks
In this example Short Home, Medium Home Rounding to Port
And the number of Laps