The Telescope
The newsletter of the S.C.G.S.C.
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The Telescope The newsletter of the S.C.G.S.C. |
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Volume 4, Issue 4 |
October, 2005 |
| Tid Bits Winter Programme Explorer coming out for winter storage end of the month. Not a lot of work to do so all hands to the paint brushes and we will get it all out of the way quickly Laying Up Thingy The Editor has heard all sorts of talk about a laying up get together. Editor speaking to himself “Think I’ll keep an eye on this and let the lads know –Bit of a bash would do no harm New Skippers Needed I few upcoming new challengers to the old sweats are making themselves known. Paul Hogan, John Mc, Mike Murphy and a member of the fair sex are all reported to be lining up for the skippers ticket New Publication Paul Hogan was noted recently working on his latest best seller. A wonderful work of fiction. I believe its related to “Star Wars” and the title is “Captains Log”. Good Luck Paul. Hope that yer man buys the story! Racing Reports This the last newsletter of the sailing season carries a report of one of the races sailed by Explorer. All the other reports (some had to be censored in places) are to be found on the SCGSC web – www.gardasailing.org Follow link to “Ships Log”
The October League Autumn League aka October League Race 1 Still can't get my head around the new name for the October league! Anyway things were looking good for the first race in the league, whatever they want to call it. A full crew of seven maybe even eight was promised with a nice mix of experience. Great for a windy day where we needed plenty of weight on the rail. We don't always get what we were promised though! We had hoped to be leaving the marina at 11.30am but we had a diver down polishing the hull and it was understood that he would not take too kindly to being towed across the harbour with a spinning prop a few inches from his face! A wee bit later than expected, we, all five of us, left for the starting line off Whitegate. The crew was sorted out with Triona on the main and Garry, Helen and Josephine on the genoa and rail alternatively. Pat of course picked to soft option and wouldn't let go of the wheel. The wind was still blowing hard so we had one reef in the main as we headed out from Crosshaven. Class 1 had left by the time we arrived but we were in time to eye up the opposition in the White Fleet, all thirteen of them. Shur didn't we have the race almost won when we put the fear of god into them by showing them our nice clean bottom! We soon decided that they had seen enough and on Triona's suggestion we put a second reef in the main to stay a bit more upright. With a heavily reefed genoa we were ready for the start which the skipper made a mess of, arriving about 30 secs too late! We crossed the starting line about 10th out of 13th in order to give the others a chance. On the beat up the harbour to No.18 we found while we weren't able to point as high, we were making good speed through the water thanks to the conservative sail plan. We had picked off one or two of the opposition by the time we rounded the mark and on the reach down to Corkbeg we had caught up with a few more. But it was on the close reach out to Ringabella that the fun started. Our plan was to shake out the reef on the genny once we were off the wind and put it back in once we had a sniff of a beat, but the skipper got brave and shook out the reef even though we were still close hauled and in the shelter afforded between Camden and Myrtleville we picked up a few more places. He was trying hard to make up for his mess of a start. Coming up to the mark at Ringabella we had to reef the genny again but due to the great skill of the crew we stayed with, and were able to pick off Eagle as we rounded and now found ourselves in 6th place on the water. On the beat back into the harbour we again found that we had the speed to keep with the fleet even though we had to tack more often. Garry, Helen and Josephine really came into their own; the tacking was spot on. Josephine was pulling on the jib sheet for all that it was worth with the result that it was almost fully in before Helen or Garry had to grind. Shur as they'd say in Cork, you'd swear they were doing it for years! Around No.14 and then a reach to EF4 again shaking out the reef found us in 4th place before heading back down the harbour to No.10 and a run to Corkbeg shaking out a reef on the main on the way. The skipper was all for taking out both reefs but Triona was having none of it and having been right so far she got her way. We rounded Corkbeg in 3rd place and held our place on a beat to the line catching and passing some boats in the other classes. We were tied up and sipping wine and chocolate cake as the rest of the white fleet passed us. Explorer proved that with early reefs, great crew, a so so skipper and a clean bottom she could show the rest a thing or two! Out of the sixteen yachts entered in the white fleet, thirteen turned up for the first race. While I think we are the second largest yacht, eight have worse handicaps!. I don't think it'll be that way for long though. Oh, you want to know the result? Well, if the skipper had made a decent start we'd have won. Instead we came second, only 16 seconds behind the winner 'Cruachan' on corrected time! A good start made to the league, hopefully Eoghan will improve on it next Sunday. Crew: Helen O'Leary Skipper: Pat Fleming, Josephine Falvey, Triona O'Neill, Garry Gosnell End of the Season and all that Jazz So you fair weather sailors the season is about over. A good summer for sailing but regretfully not all the club members used the boat as they might have. I suppose we all get too busy in the job and elsewhere. So why not make your 2006 sailing resolution now. Promise yourself at least one and maybe 2 weekends away on cruise. Take an option on a week long cruise Join in the season sailing programme. We had great fun at this part of the programme and really hope to expand the process in 2006. |
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