So you have all this time off when your a teacher and now the van is finished and the house is done you think you would be able to go and sail. In theory Yes, In practice you need wind to have a good sail especially if your not racing!!
Yesterday afternoon/evening was at first looking promising. Wind direction SW which is great and a steady force 4 I was hoping to be able to get a few hours in and set a course up using club buoys to practice for the next opportunity I have to race (unfortunately with summer holidays, strange tides and racing big boats I have had little time to sail after breaking up from school (i.e. teaching). It turned out to be a bit disappointing. The wind died and although the upwind legs were enough to get out on the wire, downwind was a little on the dull side. Having said this it did give me a chance to practice some different ways of gybing (from standing/ kneeing and sitting). Technique he is getting there as I am using weight more to steer and lots less rudder which can only mean faster on a race course. The other thing I noticed is how in light to medium winds minor adjustments of the controls makes a massive difference to flow over the sail and boat speed. The sail has 4 sets of tell tails, 3 on the sail high medium and low and 1 set on the leach. It was really useful to spend time on the rig without having to think about trim so much so not a total waste of the afternoon.
I left the mast up last night in the hope the breeze would fill in today and it looks like it has thank god! The only issue now is will it stay when the tide gets here? Humm, I'll let you know later...
No comments:
Post a Comment