Saturday saw the first One-Design racing in the Great Sound and what a spectacular day it was! Just like an English summer: one glorious day and winter followed pretty close behind it…….. It was lovely watching the IODs with their matching spinnakers and the J105s in spectacular technicolour – when you know which spinnaker belongs to which boat, it makes it easier to see who is ahead. Next week it is our turn to host racing; the RYA has done a very good job with the Covid ‘Return to Racing’ protocols. It is on the BSA website, but also here in case anyone hasn’t seen it: https://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/clubs/COVID%20guidance%20to%20racing.pdf
If anyone would like to help with Race Committee on Saturday (newbies welcome – training [and lunch] will be provided), please contact our RC chair: P/C Willie Forbes at rwforbes@logic.bm There is always room on Defender for a couple more and it would be a huge help to expand the team, especially with Wednesday Night Racing starting in just over a month’s time. For those who are really keen here is a link to the RYA Race Management Guide, which has been updated for the new RRS: https://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Racing/RacingInformation/RaceOfficials/Want%20to%20be%20a%20race%20official/Training%20modules/RYA%20Race%20Management%20Guide.pdf
It is actually worth a read as it is full of tips on how to make running races a seamless exercise with the whole team understanding their roles and responsibilities. If everyone is on the ball, the sailors have more fun!
Now, our friends at Pelle P have surprised us somewhat and come back and said that quite a number of things in their catalogue are now out of stock; this is slightly annoying since they only sent that catalogue a few weeks ago, but maybe the Swedes went mad on the internet shopping at the first signs of spring? I think if we had had to endure a Swedish winter, we probably wouldn’t blame them. So, they have now sent an updated catalogue with their 2021 Summer collection and I’m going to work with Wendy to contact those of you who ordered stuff that is now out of stock to see if there is anything in the new catalogue that you would like as an alternative. I’m sorry but this means that the entire shipment will be delayed as we can’t do piecemeal orders, it is too time-consuming and it makes the shipping more expensive. Wendy is very busy with AGM work and I’m not as proficient as her with these sorts of things, so please forgive us if this becomes less-than-straightforward. We are doing our best! Anything to make your RHADC membership more attractive……
Finally, I hope everyone got caught up on their sleep because racing is due to start again in Auckland this week. I would really like Luna Rossa to win, but I think the smart money is on ETNZ. We can perhaps gauge which team our members are supporting by whether sales of either Italian or NZ wine increase next weekend? If you read Saturday’s Royal Gazette, you’ll see that even Burrows Lightbourne got in on the act. I just hope they don’t delay it further or some of our Sail GP sailors will find themselves double-booked!
Elspeth Weisberg
Commodore
March 10, 2021