NICHOLSON MODEL SAILING CLUB

Well, Saturday 8 October had a forecast of cool, little chance of rain and moderate winds. It was a more low key event for our Opening Day due to limited people attending.

The expected 17 degrees never eventuated, with 14 degrees being the top for a grey, overcast day. Wind was up and down then came up, a bit, around 1:30, and stronger by 2:00 when we'd rapidly completed the 5 races. Extra fun race was in much stronger 10+ knot cold breeze.

Racing started, after a brief lunch, at 12:40, with our new MP3 player Start Sequence Player. Only FOUR yachts were sailing for a variety of reasons, which was a pity. We need new members!

The one-minute starts were agreed to be much better, with plenty of warning to be positioned before the sequence started. No tangles on the line was a pleasant start to the year and sailing in very variable winds from nothing, drifting, light to mainly about 5 knot breezes that were swinging through120 + degrees. One minute the wind was SW, then SE or even West at times. There seemed to often be a couple of 'holes' around the bottom mark and the Start line buoys that created some challenges and position changes.

Colin came out just winning in the first three races, with good starts, wind luck and clean racing. As the wind picked up, Ken became hard to catch or stay in front of, but the finishes were mostly quite close and the last turn was critical to the position at the finish line.. All boats kept going with no mechanical or electrical issues - surprising after being left largely idle over Winter.

Agreed to be a fun day, despite the limited competitors. All packed up by 2:30 after a fast day's sailing, just as the wind got stronger and a spattering of rain fell - threatening black clouds to the South had been ominous.

Our new MP3 player Start Sequence Player was plenty loud enough, with a new one-minute start sequence put together by Colin with the up to 30 seconds penalty added to a common 1-minute sequence. Some refinement of technique for easy use of the Bluetooth speaker, playing from an SD Card, is required as it switches off after 5 minutes and is not as basic as the old cassette tape player, which died last year. It will get sorted out and get easier as we become acquainted with its capabilities. We bought a very simple yet 90Watt speaker, but it is new tech to many of us.

Racing for the Season Series may be delayed till November, due to critical sailor absences due to other commitments.