| The weather forecast for the Saturday was for rain in the morning with 25 knots of wind, reducing as the day went by and for light winds on Sunday with a pleasant temperature of 10 degrees centigrade. The weather forecast for once was spot on. David Woodhead became the head coach for the weekend in the absence of Catherine. Dave decided in view of the wet weather that the sailors did not have to rig their boats until the rain had stopped, which was in perfect time for lunch... |  |
So during the big wait in the morning the sailors did some classroom work. Personally I think the wait was a waste of time, we mostly just wanted to get on the water and start the weekend. In our briefings that morning we joined up with the south zone squad and discussed tactics, strategy’s, a few of the basics of sailing and much more. By midmorning the wind had dropped to 15 knots so we rigged boats and had an early lunch, with a view to an early afternoon start. With 5 knots of tide and the wind reducing all the time the afternoon sail was going to be very challenging.
Sunday was a like a spring day, bright sunshine but still with an edge to the cold. No clouds were in the sky and a gentle breeze of 10 knots. We started with an early warm-up run and a short briefing. We got an early start to make use of the fine weather. We did buddy beats, buoy rounding exercises and different start techniques that morning. In the afternoon with the wind pulsating between 5 – 10 knots we had 3 very interesting races, with starting on the wrong side of the start line being the order of the day. We had one more race to keep ourselves focused while going back to the club. I’m positive everyone is a lot wiser about tide now, especially after trying to get back to the shore. Many thanks to the coaches Dave Woodhead and his assistants; Ben Paton and my own sister Emma Barry who all stood in with very short notice.
By Martina Barry
