Sometimes, the phrase ‘fair-weather sailor’ is used as a derogatory term, but fortunately this term does not apply to our heroic sailors at Colemere Sailing Club.
The Christmas Cracker is traditionally held on Boxing Day each year, the Commodore has the ‘honour’ of setting the course and manning the rescue boat whilst hardy members compete for the Christmas Cracker Trophy in a one-off handicap race.
This Boxing Day, the wind was not excessive, in fact, for most of the race a more accurate description was non-existent – but that didn’t put off valiant Colemere members Nick, Ellen and Paul
It would be true to say that the start was less then frenetic; in the chill stillness the starting hooter sounded and both Nick and Ellen were off… to whoops of encouragement from the rescue boat. Paul, however, given his vast sailing prowess, decided to give his opponents a chance by letting them start before him, he generously hung back and demonstrated his skill in sailing both sideways and backwards before finally crossing the start line a full 3 minutes and 10 seconds after the hooter….
But the minimal wind was not the only challenge, there was also a touch of mist, indeed, the ‘touch’ was enough to make the course, at times, invisible. The rescue boat had to sit in the centre of the course (or, at least, where we thought the centre might be) so that the full course could be seen most of the time and, and on several occasions, the competitors said after the race, that when they passed one mark, they couldn’t actually see the next one and had to guess where it was as they pointed their bow off into the unknown.
However, all three competitors continued gamely, the movement of air grew almost to the point that it could be described at one point as a very light breeze, but that didn’t last for long. Ultimately, it appeared that Nick had lapped everybody, although whether he actually had, or had just got lost and somehow ended up in front of the others, is anybody’s guess, however, he was declared the winner.
Some might say that sailing conditions were not ideal, but we got out on the water and had fun, and, surely, that’s what the Christmas Cracker is all about! Bring on the next one next December.