A shot in the dark

It sounded just daft enough that it might be fun when someone suggested we meet for a midnight sail on the night of the summer solstice. Blame it on the Druids perhaps but four dinghies launched with torches taped to their boats and crew and sailed around two marks between the club and the Friarton Bridge. It was not a proper race but everyone was trying to get there before the others did and there was just enough wind for three circuits before the tide turned. At that point, the breeze vanished too so we all came ashore, put our boats to bed and sat and enjoyed a refreshment in the clubhouse till late.

Capsizes at Crieff

Strathearn Community Campus kindly allowed us the use of their pool to let out novices practice capsizing in the safe warm waters on Friday 13th June. Despite the ominous date, no disasters occurred and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience.

A bit more wind for the trainees tonight but they seem to be coping nicely.

watch out for other river users

Large

or small

Training day 2

The wind had shifted round to the west for Sunday but remained light. The session started grey and gradually began drizzling as time passed. We managed a fair amount of sailing before the wind faded completely just as a ship approached heading for the harbour so we gave up at that.

Training course begins

Great conditions for the start of the 2014 level 2 sailing course. Shifty winds make it so much more difficult for first timers but this year, we had a nice steady easterly of about force 1-2 for the eight trainees. Complimented by sunshine and a bit of warmth, it was just about perfect.
The course continues each evening till Wednesday with further sailing on the next two weekends.

Light winds on the Tay

General Sailing Saturday 10th May.

The racebox refurbishment continues with repainting the railings nearing completion. Eric, Sandy and John have been beavering away with the rollers and brushes and ladders and have the place looking pretty good. I have been scraping blue paint off the back of my hand since the weekend too despite wearing gloves.

 

Dewar Seres at PSC

Graham Keir continues to show the way in this years Dewar Series leading a fleet of seventeen boats on Sunday in both races. A light south east wind made for a fairly tight course so some of the marks were a deal busier than most of us have become used to. Lots of place changes made interesting racing without the gusts which caught some people out yesterday.
The series resumes next Saturday

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Easter Monday 21 April

Despite a 7:45 start and a wind that was quite light, another great turnout on the Tay on Easter Monday with lots of place changes. The main challenge in race one was the lack of wind at the first mark at times and this separated the fleet considerably.
With the buoy moved for race two, the wind filled in nicely keeping both ends of the fleet on the same round and allowed two rounds to be completed before the light went.

Our first general sailing evening tonight was enjoyed by thirteen member's boats. Fair winds and sunshine greeted sailors and while it did get a bit cool later, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I helped Rick in the safety boat but apart from helping one Feva off a lee shore among the bushes, we were largely unnecessary.
Keith, Jim and Doug were all trying out their (not so) new Solos and experienced some teething troubles but all should be resolved soon. We couldn't find the sails for the third Feva so if any member can remember where we may have stored them for the winter, please enlighten us.

Kinnaird Weekend

The first trophy weekend of the 2014 season took place in breezy conditions at Lairwell over the 12-13 April. Looks like an exciting sail judging from the photos, and I believe the "rubber duck" for the first capsize has also been claimed.

Another couple of days were spent giving members boat handling practice and racebox instruction prior to the start of racing  in April.

Work Party 23 March

Lots of tasks were tackled to make the club spick and span for the 2014 season including washing windows and floors and furniture, the pipes were painted as was the gate, so was the gents changing room. T

he top car park boundary was marked as were the rocks along the shore that some of us have struck and damaged our boats on. The racebox was painted and rubbish was burned, The path was hosed down and the vigorous plant in the border cut down to size.
We still have a few chores up our sleeve for the next time if you missed out.

Good to get started again

It was quite breezy today but moderated a bit near high tide so decided to have a blast around for ten minutes.

Sunday 16th March

Safety boat skills workshop at Lairwell.
Another is planned in a fortnight for those who missed it.

What do you do with a burned out Fireball?

Anyone good at jigsaws?

Could you help please!

A short talk on some aspect of first aid was given by PSC training officer Rick Raeburn on Friday 21 February. Always a useful reminder even for those of us with a current certificate, it was kept at a level helpful to anyone without any practical experience to follow and perhaps inspire some to sign up for a full course later in the season.
Among subjects briefly discussed were making sure you did not become a casualty too, the recovery position, choking, drowning and with some dummies help, some hands on experience of CPR.
Thankfully, serious accidents are rare dinghy sailing but things can go wrong and some knowledge of what to do and what not to do could save a life.

Work continues on refurbishing this Mirror dinghy with the soft plywood on the bottom now replaced. Most of the woodwork is now done so we will be hoping it is all painted up for the start of the season.
Meanwhile another member has bought an old Solo which is also needing some work especially around the transom. A few weeks work here too.