Skandia Team GBR

Monday, July 31, 2006

Weekend Flown By..

Just a quick post about the weekend.. not a lot to report, but anyway...

My kids went to Draycote on Friday.. Rowan borrowed an Optimist, my dad wedged himself in the fron and Rowan went sailing... apparently they nearly nose-dived with my dad weight in the front and Rowans lack of weight at the back... wish I'd seen it, Rowan was a little worries, but enjoyed himself, steered, lost concentration, steered, played the main, steered, lost concentration, lost even more concentration, steered a bit more, tacked... gybed... had a great time (he was buzzing when I saw him later!) Flynn had a go in a power boiat and a rowing boat, didn't sail but had a great time none the less...

Saturday, family stuff... nice...

Sunday more family stuff, went to Burton Dassett hills country park..explored, forgot to take camera, searched for fossils, found some, played had fun...great views great times.. popped in at Draycote on the way back, borrowed my dad's friends Solo... just missed the start (3rd race) so was playing catch-up with the other two Solo's out.. it was the strongest breeze I'd ever sailed a Solo in, a good F3-F4+ when I checked out the anemometer readings afterwards... couldnt get enough kicker on, toe-straps were too short and I'm unfit, but it was a great sail, could keep the boat fairly flat and with a better set-up for a short-arse could probably have gone pretty quick,. felt great rounding the windward mark, caught up a few boat lengths then planed beautifully on a broad reach towards the club house, warm spray in the face is just sooo nice on a Sunday afternoon, rest of the race was great, more hiking (as much as I can with short toe straps and shorter legs), didnt really get in tune with the shifts so was holding upwind and making decent gains downwind... gybes were "nervous" but stayed upright, depsite the fully battened mains best attempts...

Great day, great sail...knackered..can feel it in my thighs today...missed that feeling!

Still no closer to deciding what to do about buying a boat... but for the moment teaching the kids to sail, having fun and borrowing boats is suiting me fine...if I can mix a bit of Ent sailing into the schedule in a couple of months time then that will be great... later friends...

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