Dalgety Bay Sailing Club Development Regatta

James, Leonie, Sophie and Chloe hug a palm tree to enjoy the tropical conditions during the Dalgety Bay Development Regatta © Kiki Papapanagioutou

Mike and Alvie the Alien providing safety cover for the fleets during the Dalgety Bay Development Regatta © Kiki Papapanagioutou

Coming in the middle of June's heatwave the shores of Dalgety Bay turn tropical for the annual Development Regatta. Twenty-five sailors from the Tuesday training evenings came down along to the club on Saturday 17th June to enjoy their first taste of regatta sailing, the legendary pasta and soup from the galley and an evening barbeque in the sunshine.

Sailors at three different stages of their sailing adventure made the most of the day with the entry level optimist sailors lead by Matt and Kiki, the intermediate sailors in Teras with Iain, and Iain and Jane running racing for the racing group.

Optimists

With a breezy day forecast the optimist team started with short warm-up and activation session on the shore giving the older tera sailors a run for their money in the elimination challenge. Other highlights included the recreation of the Beatles' Abby Road album cover with more of a countryside feel than the original.

Prior to the launch three of the club's optimist sailcubes as well as Chloe and Sophie's optimists were lined up for a game of spot the difference with boats and rig settings checked before the boats went to see. Once on the water the action continued apace for the team with blasting backwards and forwards in the gusty conditions off of the beach between Dino the inflatable dinosaur and George (the inflatable killer whale) who sadly required frequent inflation to stop him feeling a bit flat. The optimist coach boat took the form of Matt in a club topper who ensured through boat selection that he had the edge in the speed runs with the extra two square metres of sail proving invaluable.

After a short break ashore the intrepid optimist sailors embarked on a dangerous mission across the narrow sea to rescue the giant beach ball which had proved to be particularly flighty in the breezy conditions. A short pause on the tropical island saw the planting of a beautiful palm tree which had, with the assistance of Glen and a kite pump, rapidly grown to be six foot tall. This provided much needed shade from the scorching midday sun during the morning debrief. An ebbing tide saw the journey back to civilisation much drier unless you happened to be Angus and James who opted for the offshore route.

A building breeze in the afternoon saw the optimist sailors testing their skills in the stronger winds as they chased the holy grail of consistent tacks in gusty conditions. Great progress was made by all and no doubt some new top speeds were set in the power reaches back to the beach. Bringing the day to a close, the team took it in turns to head out in pairs with Matt sailing a feva to the main channel on a hunt for white horses. Many were seen on the warp speed reaching out and back as they passed the last of the main fleets heading back ashore after racing.

• Warp Speed Feva Hiker: Leonie Bedbourgh
• Leading Adventurer (Responsible for Tropical Island Discovery): James Franklin
• Top Tacker: Chloe Brisley
• Palm Tree Supervisor: Sophie Brisley
• Leading Adventurer (Responsible for Crossing the Narrow Sea): Angus Marshall

The Optimist sailors and Matt recreating the Beatles Abby Road Album Cover during the Dalgety Bay Development Regatta - photo © Kiki Papapanagioutou

Teras

Beginning the day under cover with the racing group, the Teras were eventually spotted by Iain before heading to their own briefing. This start paid dividends with the fleet straight out into a windward leeward course lapping Dino the inflatable dinosaur and Sharkey the inflatable shark as if they were standing still. (In fairness to Dino and Sharkey both were anchored to the sea bed with 2kg weights).

Matilda mastering the challenging conditions in her Tera during the Dalgety Bay Development Regatta - photo © Sarah Franklin

After lunch the tera fleet joined the main fleet for an afternoon of racing giving a decent race to many of the racing group who’d been racing all day, and we look forward to many of them being part of the racing group in the future.

Main Fleet

After a short briefing from Race Officer Ian the Main Fleet were the first boats on the water in a range of classes from Ben in his optimist through teras and toppers up to a couple of fevas making for a good variety of classes to tackle the trapezoid course.

In the afternoon Ian changed the start from a Committee Boat to the main club line to give sailors an introduction to what they would see on at normal club racing. Many of the sailors had already done the odd club race but seeing the standard of racing out on the water we expect many more to join club racing over the rest of the season.

Overall Results:

Main Fleet Coaches Jane and Naill and Tera Coaches Iain and Hamish discussing what to have for lunch during the Dalgety Bay Development Regatta - photo © Sarah Franklin