June 2009

This month's features:

The Yellow jersey

Open day - 6th June

The club's open day on 6th June was a great success. In total there were around ninety people there, with beaming faces on all who enjoyed free rides on the catamarans and dinghies. The expert helmsmen of Worthing provided exhilarating, hull high, cat rides to novice sailors in spray filled sessions enjoyed by all. Returning with grins splitting their faces to the bonhomie of the clubhouse for a shower, drink and meal.

On Saturday 25th April, Bill Cole ran a race officer training course for members of Worthing Sailing Club. TIM BATEUP reports for Mainsheet.

Based upon the RYA's course, the three hour session guided nine students through many aspects of a race officer's duties including: pre-race preparation, course design, mark laying, signals, timing and recalls. The different levels of experience within the group were very well catered for, leaving everyone feeling much more confident about the duties of a race officer. Some of the points that came out of the session were as follows:

1) Start checking the likely weather conditions a few days before the event, so that you can start to plan ahead.

2) On the day, get an accurate weather forecast and find out what the tide is doing.

3) Get to the club nice and early and liaise with the race box officials and the safety boat crew so that you are all on the same page.

4) Design a course that is suitable for the range of boats that you anticipate entering the race. Make sure that the course contains a true beat and that you mark the wind and tide conditions onto the course board. Make it clear to competitors which way round the course you expect them to go.

5) Make sure that the inshore marks are laid close enough to the race box for the officials to spot sail numbers, but far enough out to ensure sufficient water for centreboards. (This may mean moving the marks between back-to-back races.)

6) Leave the signing on sheet downstairs until the race has started.

7) It is the flags that signal the timing sequence; the sound signals are only used to draw attention to the flags.

8) Line up your eye between the club house flag pole and the limit/ finish mark so that you can accurately tell if someone is over the line. Recall boats that are, but try to avoid a general recall unless there are too many to get all of the sail numbers.

9) If you shorten the course, do so as the finishing boat rounds the penultimate mark because this will affect the boat's choice of best course to the finish line.

10) Make sure that all boats are ashore and check the beach for unclaimed Trolleys.

11) If in any doubt about anything, ask! There is always someone to help.

All students found this enjoyable session to be very informative and helped to clarify WSC's preferred methods. Many thanks to Bill for putting this on for us.

Another training day to come…

Bosun Chris Halfknight will run another safety boat training course on Saturday 25th July. If you don't feel competent helming the club RIBs you should try to attend as it's important that everyone on duty on the rescue craft knows what they are doing! If you just want to go along for the first party of the session to discover the nuances of the newly converted boats, you are also welcome. Please see Chris or Jill for more details (ask at the galley or bar if you are not sure who they are) or phone the club on 01903 249956.

CANOE competition

C.A.N.O.E. competition As promised, here are the answers to the competition set in the last edition. You may remember that C.A.N.O.E is an acronym for the (some say mythical) Committee to Ascribe a Nautical Origin to Everything, who would have us believe that a large proportion of phrases and saying currently used in English are rooted in sailing. But which of the following has a genuine nautical basis, and which has not?

The bitter end - POSSIBLY. The jury's out on this one. But we all know that a bitt is a post fastened in the deck of a ship, for fastening cables and ropes. When a rope is played out to the bitter end, it means there is no more rope to be used.

Bend over backwards - NO. This phrase had been considered to stem from men reefing sails as a team working together, leaning back and hauling the canvas in. But no.

No room to swing a cat - NO. Although the people at C.A.N.O.E would like us to believe this phrase refers to the cat-o-nine-tails, a whip used to flog seamen, it would appear to be untrue.

Three sheets to the wind - YES! This expression, meaning very drunk, comes from the notion that if three sheets come loose and blow about in the wind, then the boat will lurch about like a drunken sailor as the sails flap.

Money for old rope - NO. It seems unclear where the phrase comes from, but as there is no documented use of it before the 1930s it is highly unlikely to have a nautical basis.

Hard and fast - YES! Another nautical term. A ship that was hard and fast was simply one that was firmly beached on land.

A square meal - NO. Although you might suppose that this phrase harks back to the day when sailors were served their food on a square wooden tray, it's not true. The word `square' refers to something with is honest, proper or straightforward.

All meanings taken from The Phrase Finder, which can be found online at www.phrases.org.uk. Unfortunately, there was only one entry to the competition set in the last edition - and that was from Mainsheet Editor's husband! Obviously, if I gave him a prize I'd be accused of nepotism of the worst kind. So - I'm going to keep the competition open for another edition - that is until the end of July, ready for our August edition. So - can you come up with the best C.A.N.O.E. explanation for a phrase or saying of your own invention? Please email the editor at mainsheeteditor@googlemail.com by the end of July 2009.

Coming up next time in Mainsheet…

Andy Weller's comprehensive guide to the heavy air death roll in a Laser Meet a Member - it could be YOU! C.A.N.O.E. competition winner Training reports

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