On Saturday we had 32 new sailors who came to trials with 5 returning sailors and some alumni. With the help of some alumni (Magnus, Ellen, Hannah and Luke) and with 8 cars we drove to Grafham. With the cats storming past during their races and in some 20+ knots we took the remaining 6 blue and red Cambridge boats and 6 of Kimbolton School’s boats as well as a laser stratos start boat and a rigi.
Dividing the group into two we started with some ups and downs and then rejoined into one larger group to do some fleet races with a simple windward mark and start/finish. After 11 races with a benchmark boat using Max, Charlie or Ben we were able to get a rough idea of the relative abilities of our helms and after speaking to everyone on the phone individually and at a meeting in the Selwyn bar the crews we invited back to Sunday were decided.
On Sunday we had to transport a mere 30 people to Grafham with this time Sian as well coming to help instead of Luke and Hannah. Using the same boats except exchanging a stratos for a rib we did some ups and downs and then convened into two groups to do some mark one to two piggy (2 v 1s) with Ellen, Magnus and Sian supervising before finishing with some mark one to four feed ins (3 v 3s). Notably Charlie fell out of his boat at mark 3 by snapping a toe strap and many capsizes occurred, but crucially no other boats were damaged.
At the end of the day 24 sailors were selected for the teams with 3 teams planning to train 2 days a week and the 4th team planning to train once a week. We are all looking forward to a year of sailing and—winds permitting—lots more winning!
Max