Monday and Tuesday saw 10 students from Garin College take on an end of year challenge of learning to sail. Monday morning brought howling SW winds – perfect for beginners! 😉 hmmm…
I towed the students up towards Haulashore Island 2 to an Opti without a rig and set them the challenge of paddling the last 50m to the shore, collecting a pine cone and using a bin-bag to help ‘sail’ themselves back downwind to the club!
After a well earned lunch break, we put the rigs back in the boats and did some controlled, out-and-back tacking practise close to the slipway. As the breeze eased, we set off with three boats sailing towards the lighthouse and the rest of the group in the patrol boats. The breeze switched to the northerly sea breeze and we swapped everyone around regularly so that everyone got a chance to sail in the now perfect conditions!
Towards the end of the session we explored the lighthouse – amazing views from up there!
Day two started without a breath of wind! However, by the time we’d rigged up and let a few massive container ships go past, the breeze was filling in beautifully from the north. In a boat each, the group sailed extremely well to tack up the channel and we landed on the sand bar that is exposed at low tide.
The sand bar soon disappeared with the incoming tide so we had everyone sailing around a triangular course – we even got in a first race! However, the sea breeze was building, leading to a few capsizes as we all made it downwind back to the club. The afternoon session was pretty extreme with the sea breeze at full power and big waves on the high tide – a few hardy souls were up for the challenge and did fantastically well in the challenging conditions. Hopefully we’ll see many of you guys back in a boat in the near future!
Cheers, Tim.