The afternoon excitement began in the RBYC Sailing Room itself, with participants signing up, course-tide-wind inquiries floating about….and finally at 1500 hrs. the 1st. Race for J-24s started followed by 5 minute intervals for other classes to take off. Quite a noticeable flood-tide was prevalent which really determined the beat from Mark-3 to the Windward Mark and also near it a good ‘lift’ was being helpful. Throughout the past week afternoons winds were on the heavy side gusting to above 15 knots. So every boat was prepared for this drill. BUT, today the harbour winds played gusty-gusty to just maybe 10 in certain patches. This change spoiled the sequence of some heavy weather planners and also the wind direction and course laid did not have a Close Reach Leg which would have put some power into  spinnaker handling.

As usual, on the playing field, luffing matches are a ‘must’ with some diehard skippers….but then….you kill one maybe, but gives the backfleet to catch-up and gun you down too! Exactly what DARTER did in the Seabird fleet and lost out quite a bit of its leading edge on a leg-3 Reach. Well I guess that’s sailing – one mistake too dear!

The course laid for all classes was the standard triangle-loop-triangle-finish at the Windward Mark. Entire race was about 60 minutes. There were no protests or major bang-ups despite a reasonable no of boats racing in each Class. Nor was there any postponement or Flag X-Ray going up for premature starters.

Back at the Club a nice spread of snacks, tea, coffee was laid out. The old song ‘The Winner takes it all…’ does  not apply here as EVERYONE gets his after-racing appetite fulfilled! Today’s prize distribution was for all the races held during this Sailing Season right from October last year. The Chief Guest was the Chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust who did the honours of giving the prizes and spoke words of encouragement on the sport.

And so, as said in the beginning, with tears we bade farewell to another good-wind season and now awaiting the monsoon….may it be good too!

RESULTS TABLE : Lightning Class
RESULTS TABLE : Sea Birds 

Bejon

This camp will be conducted at the Bombay Sailing Association, Mandwa.

Camp Details :

* Arrival at Mandwa: May 16.
* Stay: BSA, Mandwa
* Camp conclusion: May 20
* Class of Dinghy: Optimist
* Coaches: Sanjeev Chauhan, Amit Kadam
* Parent in Charge: Radhika Sabharwal

* Number of participants: 10
* Qualification: Should be able to swim 50 meters at a stretch, unaided
* Required sailing skill: NIL

The participation fee will be Rs. 25,000. This fee will include:

* Fully equipped dinghy hire.
* Coach boat and rescue craft, fuel, staff and coaching material.
* Accommodation for participants for 5 days/ 4 nights, food and misc expenses.

Please note that parent attendance is welcome, but not required. These charges do not include their accommodation, food, other related expenses.

For any enquiry, please contact – Sanjeev Chauhan : 7208712042

We look forward to an early and positive response to this camp. Please forward this notification to any other parent who may be interested in sending their kids to attend this camp.

Best regards
Gautama Dutta
Chairman, Performance Sailing Program

The Race Report is available here….

Line Honours
Handicap Positions 

The Race Report is available here….

On a power-packed North-westerly, 7 Seabirds and 2 J-24s went on to sail this race – in memory of Gunther – an avid sailor and Commodore of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, long settled in India as President of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. Gunther passed away a few years ago and was also owner of the Seabird ‘Phalarope’, a fast ‘water-slicer’! To keep his spirit of sailing alive his wife had donated an annual trophy to be sailed in a race that would cover the full Bombay Harbour area.

Today, Sunday 22nd. of April 2012 this scheduled afternoon race took place. Start time 1400 hours. With winds howling over 15 knots and an unforgiving sea, 3 Seabirds had gear failure right at the beginning. Seabird gybing in vicious winds can remain as a long time scary memory! Who knows how things could suddenly snap under heavy pressure. And to add to this ‘lame list’ another boat had her shroud wire ripped off on a beat near Tucker Beacon.

The l-o-n-g course of over 10 n-miles was set as a long Reach from the Start to Port Hand Buoy lying way south of the harbour to be rounded from Port and then on to Tucker Beacon which lies in the north of the harbour which we had to leave on our Starboard to head on a close reach to the finish. One Seabird was brave enough to fly the ‘kite’ (spinnaker)…..had to pay the price as the excess power or whatever did have its toll and damaged the gaff. The Spring ebb tide did help on certain legs making the entire timing of the race unexpectedly short in about two hours twenty minutes or so.

Wet – yes, weary – yes, willing to do again – YES. That’s what sailors are made of. Who knows, maybe an undiscovered Z-Chromosome lurks within them!

Please pass the hot tea……..while the results are being worked out.

Bejon.

Here are the result tables for the race….

No-one had guessed that the afternoon would be like what it was — Gusty winds howling up by 3pm or so to almost 18 knot ‘heelers’. I use this word as all the 12 seabirds sailed the beats heeled r-e-a-l-l-y desperately with crews hiking out to windward using every kilo they were made of! 4 Saturday back-to-back races with races 2,3,4 getting the  brunt of the gusts was quite a trial of strength. Spinnakers were prudently stowed back inside except for one or two brave-hearts and full-scale ‘goose winging’ utilised as everyone had to ‘run’ sailing by the lee for quite a few downwind legs. The tides on both days were neap floods which in a way was a blessing as some opined. The course was the standard triangle and 3 loops but finish was on a shortened course in most races omitting the last loop. The beats were the deciding factors whether to go left or right for the Windward Mark to best advantage.

The Seabird, designed in 1921 by Morgan Giles, is a tough 21-footer. It’s bermudan gaff rig allows for a large mainsail (you can reef it too) and is the ‘power’ that drives it especially when the wind picks up. This relatively stable sailboat was, and is today, considered ideal for coastal sailing with good old seamanship coming into play.

Reverting to the on-going Nationals, Day-2 with 3 races were windy too but not that crazy. Yet we all saw one boat’s mainsail rip in half in the 7th. and last race….too much for the ol’ sailcloth eh?

And so, after all that ‘rocking’ strenuous exercise and rope-burns the weary but toughened sailors strolled into the Royal Bombay Yacht Club for some snacks and hot tea. A couple of ‘protests’ were filed to be heard the next day by a protest committee and then the results were finalised.

Bejon

Result Tables
Line Honours
Handicap Positions 

(a)   Chennai – PM 29 Mar till AM 30 Mar. Venue: Naval Officers Mess,INS ADYAR, Chennai

(b)   Mumbai – PM 30 Mar till AM 31 Mar. Venue: INWTC, Colaba, Mumbai

Chairman SPDC will be glad to interact with yachts-persons and parents of Optimist/other junior class (es) sailors. Firm timings will be intimated by PM 26 Mar 2012.

Clubs located outside these two locations are also invited to send their representatives for these interactions, under intimation to the YAI.