Friday night, and seven novice racers had gathered in Port Solent for a race training weekend. Everyone arrived at different times but eventually there we all were, sitting in a curry house in the marina. We were soon swapping stories over the poppadoms about why and when we joined LCSC and how much sailing we've done (or not, as the case may be).
John, our instructor for the weekend, asked all of us individually how much experience we had and then announced, to the relief of most, that we were definitely a beginner group and should be on deck at 8.30am sharp for the first briefing. He also mentioned that the weather forecast wasn't good! Being keen beginners, we all limited the drink and headed off for an early night.
And at 8.30am the next day, we found indeed that it was grey, overcast, windy and cold.
So we began with a safety briefing, with John explaining that the weather was actually so bad that he would attempt to explain the racing positions on the boat and how to rig up a spinnaker while we were still in the marina. A couple of hours later we were freezing cold but much better informed and all too keen for a nice cup of tea. However we didn't have any milk so it was green tea and flapjacks (made by one of the crew) all round.
Finally we set off for the Solent and for most of us it was our first time on the water this year. And what an opener - it was choppy and the wind was howling. John decided we were better off practising in the harbour in the current conditions. The first thing we learnt were the cockpit positions (apparently there are three crew needed to release, pull and grind, though those may not be the exact technical terms). We continued to tack and gybe about the harbour until we'd all had a turn at each position, and by the end of this little excercise we all knew what we should be doing and why.
John decided we were good enough to head for the open sea and off we sailed to try our new skills in open water. By this time it was gusting winds of 24 to 30 knots, raining and definitely bloomin' freezing - challenging conditions by anyone's standards. However we were a hardy lot and the balaclavas, waterproofs, and thermal underwear were put to the test over the next couple of hours. Personally I'd pay good money for someone to invent a nose warmer, but I digress.
We successfully achieved a few racing gybes and then attempted rigging a spinnaker. This gave us a chance to learn the foredeck and 'mast man' positions. And to get even wetter, if we hadn't got damp enough already. We didn't do badly and for beginners we were proud of ourselves. John decided to call it a day and we headed off home before icicles formed on our eyelashes and feet turned to blocks of ice.
John did a debrief over more green tea and then we dashed off to what some have described as the best part of the day - a long hot shower.
Finally we sat down at a restaurant for a fantastic meal, some well-earned booze and a chat about the days events and the merits of silk and wool thermal underwear. We even managed to blag some milk from the restaurant for our tea. All thoughts of partying disappeared as the wine, food and day's events conspired to make our beds the only place to be.
Day two, and the elements decided to give us a break. The wind had dropped, the rain had stopped, and the sun was making the odd appearance. As such, we were out on the water by 9.15am, the somewhat clement conditions allowing us to learn about helming, mainsail duties, the cockpit position (or piano tuner, as apparently it's affectionately known at LCSC) and practicing rigging and flying the spinnaker.
Our first attempt at launching and flying the spinnaker went without a hitch. We all changed positions and practised doing this a few times. We were rather good.
The wind was now gusting again at between 20 and 24 knots and we had a go at gybing while the spinnaker was flying. Again, we all changed positions and had another go. We sailed for a little while with the spinnaker flying, doing nearly 10 knots and steaming past a cruise yacht. This is what it's all about!
Come the afternoon, the sun was shining and it was quite warm. We were really beginning to enjoy ourselves and get a taste for speed, despite a couple of close calls with the depth and a couple of emergency gybes at depths of 0.5 and 2.5 meters. There was some friendly banter amongst the helms as to who lost their nerve first. We continued to practise positions and spinnaker sailing for the rest of the day until we had all been able to try everything. All in all it was a great day and we learned a lot.
John did a sterling job of explaining everything with a constant smile on his face and a very cheery disposition. He was really the most jolly sailor (isn't that the name of a pub?).
We headed for Portsmouth with almost uninterrupted blue skies, spirits having lifted with the good weather and a good day's training. We cleaned the boat had a final alcoholic beverage, said our goodbyes and headed off up the A3 back to dry land until the next crazy weekend's racing.
Lesley GodboltCopyright © London Corinthian Sailing Club, 2008