The Commodore’s Report on Yesterday’s Upriver Dinghy Trip
If I was to say that, in spite of the forecast and anticipated winds on Sunday, the boats that set off upriver towards Cotehele were at times becalmed, you would find it hard to believe!
Arriving at Weir Quay at 14:00, the winds could only be described as gentle – until we came to launch, then the gusts started to pick up to at least 33mph.
6 boats were launched, all reefed in anticipation of the pending whirlwinds and started the journey against some then very fresh breeze.
One boat retired early whilst the remainder tacked multiple times across the river after South Hooe to make it to Pentillie, only to be treated by a flat calm river; almost bereft of wind.
Course tracker showing how many tacks were needed to reach Halton Quay
Then we encountered a heavy shower and Rob Larman in his “Pirate Ship” as he passed amongst the flotilla.
Having finally reached Halton Quay and realising that the Ice Cream Parlour was due to close in 5 minutes, the decision was made to return to base – which proved to be a slightly quicker journey than the one going up!
Despite winds stronger than desired, good fun was had by all and only one boat capsized – admittedly it did do so about 6 times, despite the change of crew!
Senior Helm Alan Duncan will now be pleased to offer his services as the lead demonstrator for any future capsize and recovery drills.
Thanks go to Rosie Duncan for organising and taking control of the support boat and also to Steve Larratt for ferrying crew and radios between boats via his RIB.
Rob Kirby | Commodore
Weir Quay Sailing Club 