After three months with no J24 racing it was back to sailing school for the six J’s that made the start line on Saturday. The weather was chilly, with a N. breeze of 10-16 knots and only a small chop. Soliase arrived after a long sail from St. George’s boatyard, Papillon sailed out from Somerset and the remainder arrived from Hamilton. Jezebell only just made the start line after all the engines that Nick Bell owns failed.
The racing was all a bit of a blur - mistakes were severely punished by quickly going backwards, and there were plenty of mistakes to go around. Some of the whoppers were - Joe getting out of bed after a late night; Jezebell laying two crew out cold with the boom - both Australians though so no worries!; Sadiiqi having a fit of tacks at the windward mark; Siren banging a corner and going backwards 1/4 mile. Erin made the fewest errors and had a stellar day with a 1-1-1; Siren were going fast downwind; and Solaise and Sadiiqi were often in the mix. Papillon struggled with the jib up - it was cold but not that windy! And after Dave Perry’s rules seminar, chapter and verse was being quoted across the water.
With a minimum of faffage the R/C got three races off and us back to the bar for soup of the day by 3:30.

The spring sounds of sanders, the sight of sailors wearing more bottom paint than is good for them, and the swearing following dropping all the little fiddly bits out of the winch means racing is about to start!
Keen tacticians attended the Dave Perry seminar and are all abuzz with the new rules. So as long as racing isn?t cancelled, its kick off on Saturday 19th. The weather has been terrible over the winter ? gales and rain non-stop. Only Volvo ocean racers and Opti kids have been on the water recently. Even big boat racing was cancelled last weekend ? it was either cancel it or work out those reefing thingies ? of course the day turned out to be glorious big boat sailing weather (figures).
Anyway enough of this rambling ?. Remind your skipper that the boat needs to go overboard this week; get the cooler full of beers; change the CD?s on the boat (ones on board are so last season!); and we?ll see you on the line!

The spring sounds of sanders, the sight of sailors wearing more bottom paint than is good for them, and the swearing following dropping all the little fiddly bits out of the winch means racing is about to start!
Keen tacticians attended the Dave Perry seminar and are all abuzz with the new rules. So as long as racing isn’t cancelled, its kick off on Saturday 19th. The weather has been terrible over the winter - gales and rain non-stop. Only Volvo ocean racers and Opti kids have been on the water recently. Even big boat racing was cancelled last weekend - it was either cancel it or work out those reefing thingies - of course the day turned out to be glorious big boat sailing weather (figures).
Anyway enough of this rambling. Remind your skipper that the boat needs to go overboard this week; get the cooler full of beers; change the CD’s on the boat (ones on board are so last season!); and we?ll see you on the line!

After three months with no J24 racing it was back to sailing school for the six J’s that made the start line on Saturday. The weather was chilly, with a N. breeze of 10-16 knots and only a small chop. Soliase arrived after a long sail from St. George’s boatyard, Papillon sailed out from Somerset and the remainder arrived from Hamilton. Jezebell only just made the start line after all the engines that Nick Bell owns failed.
The racing was all a bit of a blur - mistakes were severely punished by quickly going backwards, and there were plenty of mistakes to go around. Some of the whoppers were - Joe getting out of bed after a late night; Jezebell laying two crew out cold with the boom - both Australians though so no worries!; Sadiiqi having a fit of tacks at the windward mark; Siren banging a corner and going backwards 1/4 mile. Erin made the fewest errors and had a stellar day with a 1-1-1; Siren were going fast downwind; and Solaise and Sadiiqi were often in the mix. Papillon struggled with the jib up - it was cold but not that windy! And after Dave Perry’s rules seminar, chapter and verse was being quoted across the water.
With a minimum of faffage the R/C got three races off and us back to the bar for soup of the day by 3:30.