So it was more sailing practice and the assessments started…

I wasn’t completely ready for my knots but I said to Libby to test me anyway as I would have the option of having another go next week if need be. Libby got me when she asked me to tie a bowline around the trailer as I had only practised doing them as nooses. Oops. And I kept trying to add an extra turn to my clove hitch and rolling hitch – Duh.
But I still passed that section [although I want another go to ‘upgrade’ my mark LOL].
I’m pretty good at my parts of the boat and my rigging but I got caught out on the gudgeon. I knew it started with a “guh” sound but gunwhale kept coming into my head and I knew it wasn’t that.
We did some more Man overboards and I picked up the crate both times so I passed those – Yay! Launchings and sailings were also completed.
Just have the points of sail to complete. I found today a bit tricky. The tiller extension on the rudder I grabbed was the one that didn’t have a foam handle with a ball on the end ie it was smooth metal. Not good with wet hands. It was quite gusty with ‘bullets’ and the tiller extension was driving me a little nuts at times. So the tiller would slip from my grip when I didn’t need it too and then I’d start to stuff up my sail trim and inevitably end up in irons. Then I’d get annoyed at myself. So my centreboard work was not great this week. In some respects last week was better. One capsize on a gybe when I got caught in a gust with my weight still to leeward and unable to hike out. But everyone seemed to capsize at least once today.
I was pleased about my landing. It took a while to sail into shore as we had to sail upwind and the breeze kept dropping out. One of the guys opted for a tow. Thankfully I finally managed to get the boat into a good patch of wind and there were no problems there as we had a nice NE breeze so it was very easy to stop gracefully.
So next week I’m going to wear gloves and get the good tiller extension.

Brenda, one of the people helping out, is very involved with the Sailability program they are trying to establish up here so she is busy trying to recruit volunteers for that. I’ve put myself on the email list for that.

So some frustrations but still a great day overall.
To pinch a line from the fishing programme on my local radio station: “A bad days sailing beats a good day work every time”