William_H
Well-Known Member
I hope my little stories can bring a little pleasure to my wintered friends on forum that seems a bit dead these days.
Our club run several races in a series called the short course series about once per month. Our club is on a fairly narrow patch of Swan River called in part Blackwall Reach. (named after a part of Thames I believe). It is typically 500 metres wide. The course is about 2.5kms long. I had offered to my friend and crew Dave that he could bring his grandchildren along so suddenly we had on the little 21fter 6 adults and 4 kids. A bit of a squeeze but I reckon fun is more important than winning. Well I am not sure about the fun bit the wind was gusting up to 20 knots. I fitted no 3 jib and had full main. We took off from the swing mooring and then sailed up and down the start line waiting for our start. all a bit fraught with people unused to crewing in the way. Dave sat up on the bow to keep weight forward and stay out of the way ducking under the jib. One dad on the windward gunwhale going around in front of the mast when tacking.5another dad and faithful, skilled crew Brendan on sheets and me helming. Kids everywhere under mostly at the stern. We took off for the first mark to windward jibed around then headed down wind. Even go the tiny spinnaker up. The other 2 boats in our division a 30ft Viking and 22ft Spacesailer seemed unwilling to fly a spin. So we actually go tin front of the other 2. Not so well on the windward beat with one terrible tack in the moorings but essentially the bigger boat got away from us. Took 47 minutes to do the race.
One little 8yo guy said he was frightened sitting next to me. I said relax it is my job to be frightened and I am. With 20 odd other boats some much bigger in the tiny space we had 4 or 5 near missed collisions. So overloaded and over powered we came home last. Dave at the bow got pretty wet fortunately not complaining as temp was around 27 degrees.
With about 30 mins to wait for the second race we unloaded 2 adults and 4 kids. Ah.. peace at last. We put a smaller jib on and a reef in the main. Second race was much easier despite hitting the start buoy and re rounding. (little boat is pretty agile). Wind still blowing hard we came home second this time still not a match for the 30fter. Flew the spin again with much success. It is quite tiny being a kite off a 14ft skiff. The wind was very gusty and the little boat at times accelerated like a dinghy. All good fun. Dave likes to do the foredeck work even though he is older than me at 75 but I always insist he helm for one race. He di better than me.
Anyway all just another day of madness here at 32 South. ol'will https://www.melvillecity.com.au/things-to-do/find-venues-parks-and-reserves/blackwall-reach-reserve www.efyc.com.au
Our club run several races in a series called the short course series about once per month. Our club is on a fairly narrow patch of Swan River called in part Blackwall Reach. (named after a part of Thames I believe). It is typically 500 metres wide. The course is about 2.5kms long. I had offered to my friend and crew Dave that he could bring his grandchildren along so suddenly we had on the little 21fter 6 adults and 4 kids. A bit of a squeeze but I reckon fun is more important than winning. Well I am not sure about the fun bit the wind was gusting up to 20 knots. I fitted no 3 jib and had full main. We took off from the swing mooring and then sailed up and down the start line waiting for our start. all a bit fraught with people unused to crewing in the way. Dave sat up on the bow to keep weight forward and stay out of the way ducking under the jib. One dad on the windward gunwhale going around in front of the mast when tacking.5another dad and faithful, skilled crew Brendan on sheets and me helming. Kids everywhere under mostly at the stern. We took off for the first mark to windward jibed around then headed down wind. Even go the tiny spinnaker up. The other 2 boats in our division a 30ft Viking and 22ft Spacesailer seemed unwilling to fly a spin. So we actually go tin front of the other 2. Not so well on the windward beat with one terrible tack in the moorings but essentially the bigger boat got away from us. Took 47 minutes to do the race.
One little 8yo guy said he was frightened sitting next to me. I said relax it is my job to be frightened and I am. With 20 odd other boats some much bigger in the tiny space we had 4 or 5 near missed collisions. So overloaded and over powered we came home last. Dave at the bow got pretty wet fortunately not complaining as temp was around 27 degrees.
With about 30 mins to wait for the second race we unloaded 2 adults and 4 kids. Ah.. peace at last. We put a smaller jib on and a reef in the main. Second race was much easier despite hitting the start buoy and re rounding. (little boat is pretty agile). Wind still blowing hard we came home second this time still not a match for the 30fter. Flew the spin again with much success. It is quite tiny being a kite off a 14ft skiff. The wind was very gusty and the little boat at times accelerated like a dinghy. All good fun. Dave likes to do the foredeck work even though he is older than me at 75 but I always insist he helm for one race. He di better than me.
Anyway all just another day of madness here at 32 South. ol'will https://www.melvillecity.com.au/things-to-do/find-venues-parks-and-reserves/blackwall-reach-reserve www.efyc.com.au
