Today Sun 2 Jan 2022 after following Gov and club guidelines that officials taking part in events take a covid lateral flow test before participating, in the interests of keeping both sailors and support teams as safe as possible. The club saw wind from the south west at 19 knots but gusting to 21 knots and with strength increasing all afternoon. Having viewed the conditions, which were nearly identical on the day before, the Race Officer laid a windward leeward course within the Dorn. The race starts were close to high water at 12:15 and the tide height was 3.8 meters.

The conditions proved challenging with several capsizes and a note that at the windward mouth of the Dorn where the windward mark was laid, the wind had a bit of a swirl during the gusts. Post racing it was discovered that only one dinghy had survived both races without capsise.

The featured photograph is of the large dinghy start which had a wayfarer and several lasers plus an aero.

The first race was the test of the sailor’s rustiness and the large dinghies/Lasers did two laps with the Toppers doing one lap.

As the wind was increasing the second race course was shortened by bringing the leeward mark closer to Dodd’s Island rather that its first more Northerly position in the main northern bay – again the large dinghies did two laps with the Toppers doing one lap.

Notable capsizes included the Aero which damaged a rudder post a gybe and the Wayfarer – having easily the oldest crew to launch on the day.

The event involved 8 dinghies and 9 sailors and at least the same number of people in support. Many photos and some video clips are being gathered up and whatsapp groups will have access to these.

The vegetable soup and bread or optional hot chocolate dispensed from within the shed was very much appreciated even though the shed had a noticeable internal breeze. We advise social distancing and outside when possible and mask wearing when not.

Happy New Year and thanks to competitors, parents and race staff for your help in setting up for the series and running the first day of races.

Thanks to our Results office for setting up this weeks results on Hal. Follow this link for more details
https://halsail.com/result/Public/58944

Remember B is Dinghy handicap and T is topper in terms of class.