Bragging - we came third!

Sunday 15 November 2009 was the Port of Yamba Yacht Club Founding Fathers Regatta. What it boiled down to was a repeat of the previous day sailing from Harwood to Iluka but adding 2 circuits of a triangular course and finishing at Iluka rather than racing back to Harwood.

Chris Cook volunteered to take the helm of Little Dragon on the understanding that he was in it to win. He is the President of Sailability and came second in the last International Federation of Disabled Sailing world championships in Auckland. Sounded good to us.
Chris found an old blue plastic crate that fitted neatly into the cockpit and modified it so that his short legs could reach it to brace (see photo 2).

There was very little wind at the start, but Chris managed to time it just right. Well done. It was a little depressing to watch the rest of the fleet getting away from us. Not much we could do. They are all rated faster than us.

Gradually the sea breeze picked up and soon we had around 10 knot ENE - N winds gusting up to 17 knots and fluky. Chris took the helm most of the way but Noela and both took a turn.

When Noela took over Rob White's elegant classic wooden boat from Coffs Harbour was about a couple of hundred yards astern. Noela's dormant competitive instincts were awoken. She was determined not to let her overtake - but try as she did she failed. The classic yacht very slowly snuck ahead and maintained the lead all the way to the finish.


After the finish at Iluka we decided to sail straight back to Harwood rather than put in at Yamba. It was a pleasant, broad reach or run most of the way and no pressure - the race was over. In fact both Chris and Noela were so relaxed that they both had an afternoon nap below on my comfortable bunks. I admit that I rather enjoyed having the cockpit to myself for a while.

Thanks to both of you Chris and Noela, you were great and well and truly earned your afternoon nap. Chris, you gave me some great tips that I will try to remember if there is a "next time". When the handicap results were published we discovered that we had come third in Division 7 which was way better than I expected. I am unashamedly bragging to all my mates.

The third photo is of John Woods, the BRSC training officer, who has been unfailingly supportive of me, despite my steep, and at time eventful, learning curve since the day nearly 2 years ago that the "4 Shielas" launched Little Dragon.

The final photo is of the BRSC, the social hub of the regatta. I heard tales of other events such as a weekend race from Tin Can Bay to Hervey Bay - food for thought... By Sunday evening it was all winding up, tent city was no more and most boats had headed home. I was so weary that I slept aboard Little Dragon another night. All in all it had been a great weekend.


During the regatta I took the opportunity to buttonhole other trailer sailer owners and seek advice as to the best way of getting the keel out for maintenance. The upshot was that I took Little Dragon to the Harwood Slipway on Monday morning - but more of that in the next post.