Issue date
Report on Blind Sailing Weekend 10/11 November 2012
On Saturday, we assembled at 10:00am at Bucklands Beach Yacht Club for a day of J/24 Windward Leeward racing. The first race started at 11:22 and after almost four hours of hard racing later, we had finished the 10th and final race for the day. Add the 40 minutes or so of getting out to the race course and a similar time getting back, the end result was some tired and aching bodies by the end of the day.
The crews consisted of...
B1: Russel Lowry, Dave Allerton, Paul Moriarty and Brian Trubovich
B2: Paulien Eitjes, Tom Donaghy, James Russell and Michael Cox. This was the first involvement in blind sailing for James Russell and only the second time for Michael Cox. They acquited themselves well after a few races getting used to the way we sail.
B3: Tony Holmes, Ben Geddes, Dave Parker, Terry Valder and Paulen's Tony.
All crews are deeply thankful to Rob Vallom and TAKA, from the Ponsonby Cruising Club, who brought a signal boat and a mark laying boat down from Westhaven. A thank you give may be just a reqard for their commitment.
A short but valuable debriefing meeting was held after the racing. Due to the disparity between the boats, results should not be considered as relevant. However, for the record, the overall finishing order was 1st Rusty, 2nd Paulien, 3rd Tony and Ben.
On the Sunday morning, we met at Higher Ground for a sail, but due to motor malfunction, some of us elected to return home and the others went out on Michael's Father's boat Tioga Iti, a Lidgart 29. Rusty enjoyed sailing this boat back all the way from rangitoto and did an excellent job of avoiding the NZ Navy in the Process.
We are currently undergoing work to continue fundraising, and preparing a draft programme for next year. At the moment, February will be the next intended training session.
Thanks to everyone involved with their dedication to the cause.
