Alton Water Coaching/Race Days 17/18 June 2006

A bright sunny day and fair winds greeted the Vareo fleet at Alton Water for a coaching day on Saturday 17th June. The day kicked off with a briefing by Tim Greenwood (current FatFace series leader) shortly followed by an on the water session of spinnaker downwind sailing. After coming ashore the group had a rigging demonstration around Eddie�s Vareo and discussion on batten tension using Flora�s mainsail. An adjournment for lunch to the excellent club caf� was followed by a further on the water session using a windward leeward course at the bottom end of Alton�s expansive reservoir. Tim Greenwood finished off the day with a classroom session using the video footage that had been taken of the on the water sessions. The race day on Sunday saw us lose 2 sailors to Fathers Day commitments (got to stop making the mistake of clashing events with holidays) but the remaining three decided to go ahead with the racing. Race 1: Paul got off to a good start followed by Eddie and Flora who the spent rest of the race catching up. On the last leg to the finish line which was a tight reach Paul was blown off course by a gust with his spinnaker up and Eddie and Flora seeing this from behind quickly dropped their spinnakers and beat up to the finish line. Eddie got there first and Paul managed to squeeze in front of Flora to recover second with Flora third. After lunch races 2 & 3 were run back to back with a longer modified course. Race 2: All three dinghies got off to a good start and places changed frequently with gusts and wind shifts catching sailors out and allowing their competitors to overtake, The downwind leg was a fair distance across Alton Water which gave everyone the opportunity to practice their gybeing skills. Eddie ( Keep it Flat) pulled through on the beats to gain a close fought first with Paul second and Flora third. Race 3: Everyone again got off to a good start and sailed up to buoy no 1 except Eddie who realised half way up the beat that he was going to buoy no 2. Paul was now in the lead being pressured by Flora. On the second downwind leg Eddie was lucky to pick up a large gust which brought him back up with the others and just in front of Flora. All three boats were now very close together on the last downwind mark rounding when Paul�s spinnaker drop lost him first place and Eddie squeezed past around the mark. It was now a drag race beating back up the lake to round buoys� 2 & 1 before a short downwind leg to the finish. Eddie first, Paul second and Flora third. Many thanks to all at Alton Water and hope to see you all again next year. Eddie McDonald Results: Name: Boat No. R1 R2 R3 Eddie 179 1 1 1 Paul 388 2 2 2 Flora 451 3 3 3 Ken 254 (pressganged by family, surprise fathers day meal) Kevin 462 (previous golf commitment with Kevin junior)