Fifteen DAC Sailors came along for a sail yesterday. Probably the best adjective to describe the conditions is “challenging”.

The forecast Easterly had just a bit too much of a Southerly influence. Several courses were set and changed, we settled on one to the West, (thanks Phil Stevenson) and stuck with that for the remainder of the day.

The wind speed ranged from 6 to 12 with some gusts up to 28 Km/Hr, (3 to 7, gusts to 15 Knots).

The above dictated “B” sails for most. Some “A” ‘s and “C” ‘s had a brief look in during the day.

Thank you to Barry McCarthy who donated a Boom Box for our starting “music”. Together with an older android phone from Graham Brown, we can now easily hear the countdown from the length of the Deck.

Choosing which section of a leg to sail was a matter of reading the wind pattern, taking a chance and crossing one’s fingers. There were many changes of positions in most races.

The starts were interesting with a favoured end changing several times during the final minute.

Robin Tickner hit top form yesterday and was back to his best. Robin had 3 wins and all places to score 11 points and won overall. Graham Brown was always in the thick of it with 2 wins to come home in second place. Phil Stevenson and Philip Hetherington, only a few points behind, had a win (for Phil) and many places between them.

Places and high finishes went right down the scoresheet with all having a good chance to score well at some stage of the day. The top boats all read the conditions well enough to earn their positions.

Quite a few Sailors had gear issues during the day, myself included. It’s a bother spending time replacing a dodgy rudder servo with a dud, (intermittent), that  I should have thrown out previously.

Race winners were Robin Tickner 3, Graham Brown 2, Phil Stevenson 1, Brendan Hones 1 and Terry Hey 1.

Robin Tickner took the honours for the day to win 1st place on 11 points.

Graham Brown finished in 2nd place on 15 points.

Phil Stevenson finished in 3rd place with 17 points.

The Club Championship now has Noel McPherson in front from Phil Stevenson and Graham Brown.

Our next Sail day is Thursday 2^nd March for a Handicap Event.

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