Weekend from Plymouth May 11-14  , report by Alex Barry

Skipper: Ian Collins  . Crew: Alex Barry  , Michelle Anderson (GSA), Maurice Anderson (GSA)

Boat GSA ‘Celtic Flame 2  ’, Dufour 34

Boat handling skills improvement weekend.

We met up at PYH on the Thursday evening, Ian having kindly carried out the shopping for the trip. At the last minute Dougal Matthews had to withdraw which left Ian and Alex from BSA and a couple who had come via GSA, Michelle and Maurice. Maurice had owned a Colvic which he had sailed to the Azores via Morocco during a year off sailing so had plenty of experience as did Michelle.

The poor forecast for the Friday was happily proved wrong by plenty of sunshine and light winds. We headed for the visitor pontoons outside QAB where we all took turns in bringing the boat alongside. The pontoons are high and the top edge aligns with the boat’s deck so there was anxiety about the anchor sitting onto the pontoon. The wheel was exchanged between the three crew many times and we were all able to build up confidence which was ideal practice. The hawk kite which flies above the pontoon was an unconsidered hazard as this got wrapped into the shrouds but we managed to extract it without harm. We then moved on to the visitor moorings to the north of Drake Island where we practiced reversing ‘Greek style’ up to the mooring. After a good fill of this we tied up to a mooring and enjoyed lunch but without the oozo or Greek salad.

In the afternoon it was back to the visitor pontoons where we practiced the same as before, only this time in different tide and wind conditions which made for interesting comparison. We also approached from wind on and off positions. The wind picked up in the afternoon and we put sails up and headed out the East entrance, along towards Cawsand. The boat is fast and we quickly hit 10 kn before returning home for dinner on board, a fine curry cooked by Michelle and Maurice for which many thanks.

Saturday was also a beautiful day and we retraced our steps, repeating exercises on the pontoons and moorings. Heading from the pontoons across to Drake Island under power we met a speedboat on our port side who cut across in front of us without altering course at all, clearly ignorant of any Colregs rules, a sober reminder that one needs to be vigilant at all times. It was a massive boost to boat handling skills which definitely did improve with the practice. Ian did very well to hide his anxieties and let us learn by our mistakes.

After lunch we headed up the Tamar and under the bridge where we drew up alongside Ian’s fine craft which we looked around. It’s an unusual two-masted Freedom design with wishbone booms like a windsurfer. It will no doubt be very exciting and fast to sail.

We had a good return journey with plenty of tight river tacking to avoid a Topper race. We sailed through the Bridge and out towards Cawsand before returning via the East Entrance.

Plenty of drinks on board followed and then dinner was had for a second time in the Clovelly.

On Sunday we revisited the pontoons for further bringing alongside and then did some chicane reversing around the buoys before refuelling and heading home.

It was an excellent weekend of boat handling skills training and thanks go to the skipper for his patience and encouragement and copious amounts of sage advice.