Christchurch Sailing Club Juniors and Pirates Week - Day 2
by Steve Hayles 5 Aug 2015 08:15 BST
3-7 August 2015
Day 2 of the Christchurch Sailing Club Junior Week was dominated by strong winds. A South Westerly of 25 knots with gusts to nearly 30 created testing conditions for all the young sailors taking part.
Early in the day the race committee made the wise choice to send only the top 6 sailors in each of the Optimist and Topper fleets. Only one race was completed but with many capsizes, nose dives and other unplanned swims it felt like a long day for all concerned.
In the Optimist class Sam DLF and Drew Barnes continued their strong performances with a 1st and 2nd respectively and both showing great boat handling in the difficult conditions. Special mention to Roman Gill for a very determined performance and great seamanship to add a 3rd place to his scoreline.
In the Toppers Harry Gibbs added another 1st place to his perfect score line with Ellis Wakefield 2nd and Tim Dyton 3rd. It was windy enough for Archie Tarpey to break his rig and everyone else was scored DNF after various valiant efforts to complete the course.
The junior sailors and race committee are all looking forward to more moderate winds for the remaining three days and with the younger 4-10 year Pirates joining in nearly 50 kids are expected to compete in a variety of races for the remaining days.
Pirates Report (by Liberty Booth)
Looking at the weather forecast for Tuesday the 4th of August it wasn't looking too good, coaches had a big decision to make weather we take a group of young children out on the water in he tough wind conditions. But we made the decision to take the children despite all the doubts. As coaches, we decided it was most beneficial for the children to take all of our brand new rafting kit out and have an enjoyable day on the water, without sails.
When we told the children our decision, they looked thrilled - excited to get on the water and have a great time. So we packed up our bags and left the club. We embarked on our pirate ships (the three club ribs) with our pirates aboard. As we headed down to our sailing area the children where getting more excited by the minute.
Moments after getting ashore the raft was being built, the kids all working as a big team was wonderful to see. The ages range from 4 right up to the age of 15.
With buddies at their hands; the raft was pushed into the water. The eyes of the children lit up as they saw their masterpiece float tentatively in the shallows. As the children clambered on-board the raft sunk slightly. The children paddled out about three meters from the shore with safety boats lined up behind them. The raft grounded to a halt. It swayed from side to sile as the granny knots that the kids had tied started to come loose. One by one they started to "walk he plank" leaving only two coaches left on the raft. As we paddled the almost broken raft back to shore the children were swimming alongside.
A team of coaches heaved the heavy raft up on to shore and started to undo all the tangled mess of rope that the children had created. Bit by bit, the rafting kit was taken apart. While doing so, the children were enjoying there time splashing about in the water and making new friends.
After a great day on the water, we headed in. The kids waiting willingly for there next day on the water with CSC pirates.