22 October 2008 - Happy Birthday Raed

6 nautical miles

It was Raed's birthday today, so I decided to take him out for a sail in the afternoon. The birthday lunch went on a bit so we only got there about 3pm but got about two and half hours sailing. Raed has been mainly crewing, but the wind was light so I gave him a helming lesson.

I say the wind was light - it was - but because of the thunder storm in the morning the surf on the beach was quite high. I ended up using the Japanese assistant to help us get through the surf before sailing.

We kind of pottered around a bit - giving Raed a feel for the wind and then saw a Hobbie in the distance, so with a longish downwind run, which we goose-winged, we gave chase.

I took over the helm as goose-wining is a still a bit tricky and probably not for a beginner. Actually in very light winds with a fair swell it was a little difficult for me not to be pushed around by the waves.


The Hobbie had four people on board, which meant that we had speed over them - normally it would be the other way around!

We found out they were from Finland and said they were beginners at sailing... so [they said] keep clear, they couldn't guarantee where they would be!


The Hobbie had come out from one of the hotels and was not in a very good state of repair - there was a rip in the sail and the masthead buoyancy was hanging from the top of the mast - not secured as it should be.


We sailed back along the coast - strangely this is not something I had done before - seeing Hotels like the Palm Beach from the sea.

Getting back in through the surf was interesting. A new experience.

All in all a very enjoyable sail.