Vane 36R free sailing at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 5 Sep 22:37 NZST
31 August 2024
Vane 36R free sailing at Fleetwood © Tony Wilson
Well looking ahead, we had a great forecast in view for the weekend and the last one for August. Dry, with the wind swinging around to the East overnight from Friday to Saturday, ready for our 36R Vane boats, with five in attendance.
The boats were prepared with the largest of rigs for a 2 point run straight down the lake. There was a slight clubhouse bias on the breeze that was said to increase slightly through the morning and hit around 12knots.
The Bye boat Skipper was assigned in turn to help Bob through the day and allowed to tune 'Remix' to their liking as one saw fit.
First race and John was off to a great start with his 36R tuned perfectly and had the race on both legs in the bag. The sailing continued for all throughout the day pretty good.
Bob's boat had been the first to downsize from his Tall skinny main as the wind had picked up sooner than expected, followed by Olly next and then John as he got caught on a crab line to somehow break his boom in half. Tony and Peter had hung on all day with the Big rigs, but it was OK for just the one round and not worth changing down for the last one, when the wind upped another notch in strength.
John hadn't dropped any points at all and had gained a couple with Bob's boat. He was the only one that had Remix (Bob's boat) tuned to perfection by the very last race, taking the centre line, in one go to the far end for the run.
We had a really good day with the pocket sized easy to one man handle by yourself boat. You get to appreciate what such a good little boat is in the right conditions. Easy to carry, transport and store with having such a short keel. No overly burdening rules, as the hull just has to fit in the wooden box of something like 36" X 11" x 8" (I think it is ?) and have as much as you like in the amount of sail area.
Just a couple more of the one day 36R Saturday's left for the year and a couple of Marblehead Vane dates left on the calendar to look forward to. Any interest from others is always welcome.
1 John Sharman 20pts
2 Olly Murray 13pts
3 Peter Whiteside 8pts