Blakeney Sailing Club Push the Boat Out
by Alan Collett 16 May 2017 11:21 BST
13-14 May 2017
Push The Boat Out at Blakeney © Steve Soanes
Team Blakeney Sailing Club really pulled out the stops and Pushed The Boat Out on 13th/14th May. They showed what they enjoy both on and off the water. Eleven people made contact as a result of the advertising, sailing and socialising.
Some of the participants had never sailed and some just wanted to get back on the water. Not every participant raced, some sailed to the Point to see the grey and the common seals. Whether it was pure coincidence or just the way it works sometimes but none of the helms racing had their usual race crews. Indeed, Matt Boreham and Simon Hibberd had different crews each day. Alan Collett crewed for two different helms.
The Club organised two days of racing with two races each day for 22 sailors in 5 Lasers, 4 Seaflys, 1 Streaker, 1 OK, 1 Contender, 1 Topaz Xenon, and a GP14. Those that did not race sailed in a Wanderer and a Wayfarer to Blakeney Point.
John Dickson, who had not sailed before, managed to crew in two races, flying the spinnaker even gybing the spinnaker and come 7th and 8th out of 11. He helmed in between races and helming back from the race area up the cut to the slipway.
Comments afterwards included "awesome", "excellent" and "wonderful experience" to quote but three. Not everyone was able to take up the offer to sail this weekend but they will hopefully in the near future. This superb result was achieved by members going the extra mile to make it all happen; the planning and advertising, the reception, the race officers, the patrol boats, the shore based launching and retrieving, the cooking and serving. Thanks are due to James Cowan of Norfolketc for lending buoyancy aids.
Five helms shared the first three positions over the four races, Matt Boreham, Alan Jackson, Luke Lavender, Trish Moore and Patsy Seymour. These races count towards the Spring Series. In June there will be four more races in the same series. Alan Jackson, with Angela Harcourt as crew, have pole position with three firsts and a second to his credit so far.
Photographs taken by Steve Soanes and posted on Facebook (seen by 779 people so far) show why two years ago he won a cup for "capturing the spirit on sailing at Blakeney".
A big thank you to all who made this possible, including the RYA for the inspiration and support to run the event.