Christmas Sunday sailing - Matt Richardson's report
‘Twas the last Sunday before Christmas when 6 hardy sailors and 2 even hardier Safety Boat / Race Officers / General entertainers took to the water to do festive battle in a team sailing contest, Westerly wind 5-6, gusting 15, made for near perfect mucking about sailing. Safety Boat Team Richardson (Matt and Sam) split the six boats into two teams, one each captained by Sally and Sara, who then picked their teams school playground style. All races were to be held with relaxed sailing rules, allowing for most cheating techniques, and with pumping and paddling actively encouraged. Sam and I did our best to put the racers off by creating maximum wash, playing loud Christmas music through the loud-haler, and generally making things up as we went along. And so, we were all lined up at the start in Christmas hats, tinsel wrapped booms, and a fine polar bear head dress sported by Sally….. Race 1 – was a simple team race, two laps round buoys, with the winning team being the ...