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29 Mar 05
Dart Open 2005 Report
The Dee Sailing Club hosts the first round of the 2005 Dart 18 Grand Prix.
A famous but fictional character from recent history quoted his mother as saying. "Life is like a box of chocolates"……. "You never know what you are going to get"! Applied to sailing this simile is especially true. We may not have had any hazel nut whirls for this weekend event but we all know that the orange creams that no one apparently wants get eaten all the same. You may prepare for the worst and it just may not happen, but take a risk and you're tempting fate for sure. The forecast was for mild weather and gentle winds, this information treated with the usual measure of salt from experience. That is the paradox of our weather, the thing that always fails can be trusted just as much as that which provides unerring reliability. What really trips you up is the big cheesy toe of fate that only protrudes when you give up expecting it. So prepared for any eventuality we were given mild weather and gentle breezes.
On Saturday 26 March with the dew still wet 35 crews began the final preparations for launch. 35 Darts trundled down the ramp to wait upon the shore. The rescue team in freshly serviced and fettled ribs skimmed the flat water. The postponement flag hung limply from the committee boat lazily lolling in the weak movement of air.
The race officer held up the burgee as a telltale, there was a breeze, just enough if you strained to believe that your cup might be nearly half full. It was not just the lack of volume; it was quite able to shift its weight from one leg to the other. Waiting for the windward mark to be laid only to back 30 degrees further west before moving northwards. In the light airs the sound of radio speak could be heard floating across the water from the 4 rescue ribs seconds after the original transmission. Five souls on the committee boat willing the wind to settle on an origin. The fleet was instructed to launch and make their way against the incoming tide a nautical distance from the cliff to the race area. It would be a journey of nearly 20 minutes. The sight of 35 boats sailing towards you even on a calm grey day is a beautiful ballet of movement.
The class flag was raised to the sound of gunshot. A pall of acrid smoke drifted from the Ark and the tension of the 70 sailors wound up several notches. Movement around the start line became more measured. It is like watching a game of chess where all the pieces move independently, each one affecting the other within their set of rules. In a one design racing class such as Darts, you know things are going to be close. Another gun then the countdown to a long hoot leaving a mere 60 seconds to go. Some boats had taken the daring 'course side' approach to dip the line before the start. With a fleet of 30 plus boats plunging headlong to close the gap this is a tactic that should only be reserved for the confidently adept or the clinically insane, (both traits are regularly in evidence in every race, and on rare occasions in delicate balance within the same person).
"Bang", a clean start! From the vantage point on the committee boat the bottleneck at the start had claimed a few victims who were consigned to the rear of the fleet to play catch-up. The rest began to spread out on a Spiro graph of lay lines as the tide curved their courses and the wind shifts tested their skill. 2 mentally brutalising laps of a sausage course straining to eke out every last Newton gram of power out of the wind Paul Wakelin and Joanna Coe taking line honours in the first race.
The second course was quickly set then the windward mark was leapfrogged over the wing mark as the wind shifted again. There was another clean start for this sausage and triangle course. James Douglas and Kim McMullen taking first for the finish. The final race of the day with the ebbing tide and too many boats over the line causing a general recall, out with the big Black flag for a rapid restart. Some boats were over and three were caught, the others thank their lucky stars. The big finish gun's report fired for local team James and Kim. An evening's entertainment to a local rock band 'Rust' whose energy even enticed the younger generation with the power of rock and reminded the rest what it was like to be young and full of energy.
It is a great opportunity to witness the mechanics of a race from the vantage point of a committee boat. In a race you miss so much, so focused on your boat, and the boat ahead, and the one behind, and that starboard tacker and that elusive wayward mark. You can see the errors of others with foresight; you wish you could take it with you to avoid your own next and inevitable faux pas.
Day two for another early start, an hour less in bed due to BST and the promise of more breeze that proved as empty as an Easter Egg. The Race Officer recorded 7 knots of breeze from the Ark, that was until the fleet arrived just as the wind left. With only an asthmatic 2-3 knots 3 more races were wrung out of the day. Alan & Fiona Kernick won race 4 with an incredible lead, Dave and Louise Roberts pushed them to second place in race 5. It was down to the final race with the event hanging between James & Kim on Bogtrotter II and Alan & Fiona on Red Insurance. The formidable talents of the Kernick partnership forged a solid win in race 6 taking the event by 1 point. James and Kim 2nd overall, Paul Wakelin & Joanna Coe on Fluid Boat Services in 3rd, Dave and Louise Roberts get a free plug on www.sailingbooks.co.uk with a credible 4th place.
Back to the club for an excellent buffet lunch and prize giving. Simon Wright and Steve Roberts of DSC took 1st in the UKIDA handicap prize. A mention must be made for the honourable DSC Commodore Ian McLean who promised as a First Aider to keep watch at the back of the fleet, he diligently kept his word with a 23rd place.
And the box of chocolates, well there may not have been any chocolate coated Brazils or rich rum truffles in the range of wind conditions, but for each helm and crew they took what fate had doled out and moulded from it success or failure according to their own definitions. Thanks in abundance to the facilitators in no particular order, Alasdair Davidson (Race Officer) and his team of honed race co-ordinators. Simon Morruzzi (Rear Commodore Sailing) for data crunching the results and preparing the race instructions. Richard Stacey (Captain) and his well oiled rescue team, first in and last out, (and not just the bar). Julie McLean (Lady Commodore) for the hospitality team, the great food and service, Mary Shaw (Bar manager) her staff and her collection of decoy drawing pins. Mark Waring, Beach master. James Douglas (Dart 18 Fleet Captain) for once again flying the DSC and UKIDA flags. Thanks to the competitors for making their journeys and keeping the North on the Dart 18 map, and thanks to the many club members who gave their time to make all this happen. Final confession, I actually quite like orange creams.
Mark Emptage.
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