Pam and Noela won!

Let's get straight to the nub of the matter. Noela and I won the under CCH .650 trailer sailor division of the Clarence River Yacht Club Brushgrove Anniversary Race on the 27th February (the anniversary of what I never found out).

I arrived as directed at the Kirchner Road boat ramp in Grafton on Friday afternoon so that I had time to socialise and prepare at my leisure for the race the following day. Unfortunately the forecast was for very light SE winds as well as showers. The forecast turned out all too accurate. Heavy showers and too little wind.

Once rigged, launched and moored stern to shore tucked into the reeds, it was time to explore the Clarence River Yacht Club. Their "new" clubhouse is the abandoned Scout Hall. I think the real estate assessment would be "could do with some TLC", but it provided the basics, toilets, showers and a canteen. The main drawback was the sewage treatment plant next door. The place was decidedly on the nose. Helen and Don McLeod and Andrew Landenberger made the visitors welcome and worked extremely hard to make the event a great success.

Noela arrived on Saturday morning and we went to the briefing together. The course was pretty simple. As a trailer sailor with a CCH under .650 (according to Top Yacht software mine is .557) I was told I could make my own decision to shorten course at the first mark at Ulmarra (around 10 km) or continue to the next mark half way to Brushgrove (around 16 km) or even keep going to Brushgrove (20+ km). I reckon I might have got all the way to Brushgrove in ideal conditions, but conditions were far from ideal on the 27th February.

The fleet consisted of 6 trailer sailors and 24 catamarans sailing in a separate event. The cats were going all the way to Brushgrove and the fastest even further to Lawrence.

We nearly retired before the start. The line that holds the rudder down gave way and I wasn't able to steer. However we managed to work around the problem and although steering remained a bit of a problem we coped.

The trailer sailor start was at 1 pm. There were only two of us ready on time. Both the start boat and the rest of the fleet were late. It was a pleasant fantasy that we could have legitimately got a 15 minute head start if we had started on time leaving the laggards to catch up. As it was we all started together about 15 mins late. We managed to get over the line third.

The cats started 5 mins after the trailer sailors and even in the light airs it didn't take them long to streak ahead. We tried hard to keep us with the other trailer sailors but to no avail, they slowly pulled ahead. We were (as in the Bridge to Breakers) the tail enders.

As we neared Ulmarra the wind shifted from SE to E so we had to tack backwards and forwards to make the mark. To my surprise I saw that we were slowly catching up two of our competitors. We rounded the mark at Ulmarra ahead of those two yachts. By that time the we had been sailing for 2 hours and were becalmed. Noela and I made a joint decision to shorten course and hope to get back to base before dark without resorting to the motor. For a while that didn't seen probable as the tide was carrying us towards Brushgrove. After about half an hour an E breeze sprung up, the best wind of the day. We were on a run back to the finish line 10 kms away. We don't have a spinnaker but we can and did goose wing the jib using the modified boat hook as a whisker pole.

For a while we had the strange experience of leading the fleet back home (at least until some cats flew past). The other yachts had headed on past the Ulmarra mark towards the next mark before race control officially shortened the course for all.

These photographs were taken by some race officials who came zooming up in a speedboat to check up on us. Great. It is hard to get photos of one's own boat underway. Andrew Landenberger made our sails and I hope he reckons they are setting OK.

It was a buzz to see Helen wave our yellow class flag as we crossed the finish line. We had done it. We had finished as far as we knew without breaking any rules.

I was thrilled when Little Dragon was announced to be first in our division (OK, I know that there were only 3 in the division). It is the first time since I was a teenager almost 50 years ago that I have won any sporting event. I just want to enjoy the moment and not reflect on some mutterings about different handicapping systems. Thanks Noela we make a great team and I am sorry you had to leave before the presentation.

Round the buoys at the Big River Sailing Club

I slept aboard on the 19th February waiting to see what the weather would be like on Saturday, which is when it all happens at the Big River Sailing Club. That night I was lulled to sleep by lapping water and the gentle pitter patter of rain. Saturday morning it was still raining. Around lunch time I was so fed up that I was ready to pack up and head home when the rain stopped and a glorious afternoon emerged.

Savaad went home on Friday so I was crewless. John Woods immediately arranged for John Hayes to crew for me, he is an experienced sailor around my own age. We were going to compete in the regular Saturday afternoon club racing.

The briefing was alarming. Five different marks and each race consisted of 3 rounds of a slalom course, but the first round slightly different to the following rounds. To make matters worse there were due to be 3 of these ostensibly short races to give extra starting practice. I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. I was told "don't worry, just follow those ahead!". Luckily John, who had pretended not to listen to the briefing, knew exactly which the next mark was. I was the only trailer sailor out that afternoon and all the lasers soon got well ahead. We managed a reasonable start but were so much slower than the others that we told them to start the second race while we were still finishing the first race.

Some time ago John Woods told me that I should take part in club races if I wanted to improve my sailing skills. I have to admit he is right. I learnt heaps in just one afternoon. Thanks to John my crew and unflappable unofficial trainer. I still enjoy taking out novice sailors (our ocean swimming group has an inexhaustible pool) and encouraging them to "have a go". Little Dragon is very forgiving in most conditions - but perhaps I should join in a few more club races.

The best laid plans of mice and men (and women)

At last a decent forecast: Thursday 18th February 14 - 16 knots SE and occasional showers, Friday wind dropping to 12 - 14 knots and still occasional showers. Savaad and I decided to head down to Harwood on Thursday afternoon and launch, ready for a full day of sailing the following day. The best laid plans of mice and men (and women)...

We arrived at Harwood in the late afternoon in torrential rain. A brains trust of Dick the caretaker, Savaad and I agreed that there was 35 knots of wind. The forecast was partly correct as it was SE.

By mid evening the wind dropped and the rain stopped. Savaad decided to try out his brand new very lightweight swag-tent (an E Bay "bargain"). No sooner than we snuggled down for the night, me in Little Dragon and Savaad in his swag-tent, than the wind and rain returned with a vengeance. The wind bounced Little Dragon up and down on the trailer: crash, wallop. Sleep was impossible so I retreated to the Ladies toilet block, which was a far better option and I slept well. Thanks Dick for keeping it so spotless. Savaad knew he could retreat to a bunk on Little Dragon or the toilet block but he toughed it out in the swag-tent. He announced in the morning that it was "not waterproof". I never found out how much he slept.

Friday morning it again pelted down so we retreated to a coffee shop in Maclean (my favourite has closed down) for a prolonged Mahjong session. Around 1 pm hunger took us back to base (we had a tasty lunch waiting). After lunch it dried up briefly so we launched Little Dragon still doubting that we would go sailing.

The launch was a bit dramatic. She came off the trailer unusually fast and the winch wire didn't hold her. The wire had come off the winch. I made a mad lunge for Little Dragon having visions of her sailing off down the river on her own. The photos show me soaking wet and Savaad fixing the winch in the rain - yes it started again.

By 3 pm that drama was over. At last the sun was out and there was a fine breeze. Finally we got away for a pleasant hour or so sailing down the river - we had to motor back as the wind died on us.

Was it worth it? Well I notice that we are both smiling in the photos.