25.12.17 - Practice Makes…. Better

After our nice relaxing holiday on the beach we headed straight to the Royal Cape Yacht Club, eager and exciting to finally head out on to the water.

The focus of the day was practicing our manoeuvres - gybing in particuar (turning the stern of the boat through the wind) but it was a little bit of a slow start. It seems to be the trend, but most of the morning was spent pottering around tidying up and fixing some odds and ends - Duncan got to go up the mast which was very exciting.

It was smoothing sailing once we finally got our however - all of us getting some solid practice in all roles during our main manoeuvre. The shelter provided by table mountain added some challenge with large patches of no wind scattered amongst stronger 20kt areas.

It is particularly important to all get experience with all roles due to our watch system on the race. at any given time we will have one helmsman, one crew, and one galley with the other 3 of the team getting some much needed rest. This means we are actually doing most of our sailing with 2 people on deck and the familiarity gained during practice sessions like these are vital.

The night was rounded out with a moderate drinking session at the famous “forreys” (Forresters Arms) - catching up with family and old friends.