Training

A brilliant 6 hours training at Datchet, first match racing with Craig Richards for a couple of hours and then another 4 hours of 3 boat racing with Ben Harker who joined after a long journey. I had forgotten how much fun match racing can be especially on the starts. Great fun and outstanding for boat handling practice. Results were irrelevant unlike the intense focus on boat setup and tactics.

Wind was a few mph in the morning building to 8 to 10 mph later with a nice chop to keep the focus on boat speed and tacking. With so much concentration, the day flew by and before we knew it it was time to wrap up at 5pm when the rescue boats were taken off the water.

I was also able to try out the sails for the worlds which look superb and worked extremely well in a chop. Delighted with the Alioth now it is at last in its final racing configuation and I have rigs that support the sails effectively.

One unusual feature of Datchet is the lack of water while divers work on the pipes of the reservoir. The water level was 60 foot or so below the level from which we stood. Thankfully we think we saw the start of water being pumped back in with a lot of turbulance in the centre.

We were standing at the level of top of the stairs in the picture below and the boat appear so small and moving so slowly it, took a while to adjust and sail the boats effectively. Even with the water down it is still a great venue and provides a good chop when the wind is between South and Northwest.