The Club's training fleet are primarily Gulls and Toppers, but we have a handful of Wanderers and RS Fevas as well. Helping out with the junior sail training on Saturday, the kids were on their second day and my job was to take them out individually in the Feva to give them a taste of a different boat to the Gulls they were learning in.
Despite a drifter of a start to the day, enough of a wind filled in enough to set the asymmetric, but was light enough to leave the newbie students on the helm, with a little bit of coaching, whilst I trimmed the sail. I think all agreed I had the best job of the day.
Payback came at the end of day when I took responsibility for running then each through the capsize drill. Fourteen capsizes in total. We only had thirteen students, but despite an utter lack of superstition, we decided thirteen was an unlucky number so one lucky pair got an extra dunking.
I think it was just an excuse.
It was a good day to be on, and in, the water.
Straight home from the Club, time for a quick shower, then down the motorway to Bristol for Saturday night's gig. A new venue, but the landlord and landlady have known the band a long time, and the Fishponds area of Bristol has, over the years, very much become a home from home for the band, so the gig couldn't help but be a good one.
Sunday morning I overslept, so was half an hour late getting to the Club, where I'd volunteered to run the Safety Boat for the morning as there had been some sort of screw up with the scheduling. The Club had a number of visiting British Moths for our Moth Open, along with our couple of locals. I raced one of these boats for a number of years, including a couple of Nationals, before I moved on to a Europe and then not so long after an Enterprise, and, aside from a couple of Enterprise Opens at Penarth and Bristol Corinthian, the Moth is really the only class I've ever travelled with.
I still have a real soft spot for them.
Somebody has very kindly offered me the loan of a boat for their Nationals this year in August. Think I can squeeze the time off work and band (though only for three days out of the four, as I'll need to be back for a gig on the last day); I just have to negotiate furlough with my exceptionally patient wife. We shall see.
Meanwhile, we'll be seeing a good few of them again this coming weekend when we sail down to Fowey.
So I was sailing last Saturday, sailing Sunday, did stay home to fix a fence Monday evening but was back out to karate on Tuesday, and then, of course, will be sailing again tonight before heading down to Plymouth Thursday night to sail first thing Friday.
I suspect I'm a little over-indulged.
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