SEABREEZE @ Mombasa Yacht Club Plenty of action and activity at the club this week, with dearth of sailors available on Wednesday the Monthly Mug race was postponed. That did not stop people enjoying a good supper as the social members turned up for the grub and a drink. The weekend was a whole different story with training and racing both days. Sadly we had lost our trainer to malaria so he was out-of-action both days being bedridden with the illness so get well soon Evans we missed you. Having to step into the frame came Seabreeze, Seema, Jochen and Nazir they met with the students and did a full weekend of training. Saturday it was the Aga Khan students back again and they got involved immediately helping with the rigging. Following that they were sent out on the water in Laser Ones and proceeded to sail a sausage course to improve their boat handling. Sunday was more technical as the group was mixed ages and in their early stage. We had to wait for the tide so there was plenty of “boatyard sailing” along with classroom style information. Seema took over as the principle lecturer and walked the students through rigging a Bosun then took them into the class to discuss “Point of Sail” Nazir and Jochen followed and helped where they could before going off to set up the second boat. As soon as the tide allowed the boats were launched and the trainees were on the water. Once again it was the sausage course and up and down they went until the hooter sounded for us to come back to set up the race. It was the 3rd & 4th Urda Cup and we had three Bosuns out contesting the race, (if you are a follower of us and also a commercial business we are looking for sponsorship for our racing and our boats. For just Ksh100,000 you can have a boat painted in your colours and a suit of sails in carrying your company colours and logo.). Race one (Urda 3) set off with the helms being Seema, Jochen & Ashraf, crews were Seabreeze, Nazir & Gabby. The start was good with all three boats close over the line unfortunately at “Elephant” mark it went topsy turvy as there was a boat tied between the barge and the bouy looking to make a rounding not possible. The boats were recalled to start again however one boat decided to test the gap and went through. This ultimately led to call for redress later in the day. Once all three were gathered again they set off with Seema gaining advantage, she took the lead and held it most of the race, Jochen fought back and at the penultimate mark he found a great wind shift and closed the gap to less than a boat length. This resulted in a tacking duel to gain advantage to the line with Seema having the upper-hand until she had gear failure. This allowed both the other boats to slip through and take first and second. Race 2 (Urda 4) was an easy start for Seema as both her competitors were late at the start, she gained a huge advantage and they were left to chase her down. Ashraf & Gabby had gear problems and sought assistance so they were already half a mile behind as Jochen and Nazir chased Seema down. As each mark passed they pulled a little back but approaching the finish it was easy to see their tardy start had cost them dearly. With just 200yds to go Seema suffered gear failure! Her boat suddenly had no jib! It had torn loose from the sheet so she had only a mainsail. Jochen and Nazir were taking no prisoners and were really going-for-it they immediately began to claw back yards by the tens! Seema was almost unable to sail upwind so it was broad reach in wide tacks to reach the line. Fortune favoured her and she slipped through the line with her quarter mile lead down to a little over 100yds. It was then time to haul the boats and head for tea which I have to say gets better and better each Sunday we race. The conversation was lively and challenging as races were disputed and argued so there is still action to come. Our sailing classes are full until April but if you want to come a learn and play we would love to see you.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:16:58 +0000
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