May 2006
St Albans Sea Cadets enjoyed two days dinghy sailing this weekend. On Saturday they had a team in the national Rater Cup, and three entries in the national Topper Trophy. On Sunday there was a sail training day. The venue for all was the Welsh Harp Boat Station, by Wembley.
Picture library here.
The regatta took the form of two races in the morning, and two more in the afternoon. Each was approximately one hour, with a course that included all points of sail and involved tacking to get to some marks. There were over 20 boats on the water so good knowledge of racing rules and rights of way was essential! At the starts and some marks there was a lot of congestion! Light gusty winds of no constant direction tried the sailors skills to the limit. At lunch the boats were swapped around with the fastest finishers getting the craft from the slowest to ensure fair results.
The Rater Cup was sailed in 18 foot gaff rigged Admiralty Sailing Craft (ASC's). St Albans had one team of three girls: Kat Harris, Nichole Hughes and Flo Oakley. These relatively large boats take a lot of sailing and the girls were probably too genteel at the starts, and were never able to realise their full potential. While they finished in the last third of the fleet, they were winners in the fun stakes, as you can see from the picture!
The Topper Trophy was sailed in the ever popular 10 foot one design una rigged dinghies. St Albans had three entries: Tom Oakley, Hayley Boothroyd and Hugo Oakley. There was some very exciting racing, again the large fleet meant starts and rounding marks was critical. Hayley and Hugo had moments of brilliance but it was Tom who held his nerve and remained consistent enough to win the Bronze Medal. Tom, 14 a student of Verulam School said, "I was thrilled to do so well in my first national competition, the district sailing competition is soon and I hope to do even better!"
On Sunday St Albans Sea Cadets had a days' sail training, again at the Welsh Harp. The usual suspects above were joined by Ben Lansdown and Alice Mullan and novices Cameron Abraham and Emma Brown. Under the supervision of PO Vicky Hastings a great days fun, learning and team building was had by all. Sailing Toppers and Bosuns and enjoying light winds the two novices were soon taught the basics. There were planned and unplanned capsize drills, a soaking sea cadet is a happy sea cadet! They seem to think getting wet is an essential part of dinghy training, trying the patience of the long suffering but kindly safety boat crew!
There's no time to be bored with St Albans Sea Cadets, see www.seacadetfun.com . It offers many fun opportunities and is open to boys and girls for 10 to 17 years and very inexpensive. The unit always welcomes new faces, just turn up at 7pm on a Tuesday or Friday night, at the unit, which is just behind Westminster Lodge swimming pool. Why not give it a try and make new friends and learn new skills, you've nothing to lose!