REDHOUSE YACHT CLUB
Newsletter

Hello All,

What a brilliant day was had by one and all this last Sunday in some stiff easterly conditions on a rather narrow river. The Bridge crew organised a pursuit race up to E and D buoys and as usual the start was a bit confusing as most did not attend the briefing!

A special mention must go to Pierre and Son Inc., who have just acquired a new Gypsy with all the bits and bobs, however some important bobs were sitting in Big Andrew's car and without these particular bobs one tends to sink ,therefore by the time this happy duo got halfway through the village they were gunwale-flush with the river and retreated hastily to rectify the problem.

Chris went like a train up the beat due to some extra weight in the form of a girlfriend (Sarah) then lost out on the fantastic reaches because of this latest  friendship but still came in a strong second in the A fleet. WILLIAM PIERCE-JONES CAME THIRD on his Finn and well deserved too. Tim and Big Andrew shared some paint at the village corner when the blue Finn's rudder decided to call it a day and sent itself headlong into poor Tim on the reach, they're still friends. Josh and I found ourselves a little overpowered uphill but made up for it on the runs.

Young Mathew Lawrence and his Mom sailed their Gypsy to victory in the open B fleet followed by Tarryn on the Tera Pro which she is slowly starting to get the hang of, Stuart come third. Michael Lawrence and Dad on the Miracle had a good race but a tight tussle between  the Bernades on their Sonnet (who had a habit of losing vital parts of their vessel overboard at critical moments in the battle, like the forestay pin and the Skipper!!) and Patrick and Sophie on the Mirror who had the combined weight of a household vacuum cleaner and just kept going sideways, with the former eventually taking it although a bit of the vino was required to calm nerves after the fact. All results are on the website (Friendly Persuit (P) 29 January 2012).

Short Tactical Racing

This Sunday we will be having some short tactical racing for all those who are not attending the Knysna Inter-club. The start is at 14:00 on a high rising tide in what looks like a light SSE breeze.

Congratulations

Well done to young Sarah Arnold on winning the Sonnet Nationals held over the Christmas break, she teamed up with Steve Du Toit and I believe won it for the second time in a row.

Sailing School

This will resume next week Sunday the12th  as we prepare ourselves for the Eastern Cape Inter-schools regatta on the 17-18 March.

Nautical Terms

Before the mast: Literally, the area of a ship before the foremast (the forecastle). Most often used to describe men whose living quarters are located here, officers being quartered in the stern-most areas of the ship (near the quarterdeck). Officer-trainees lived between the two ends of the ship and become known as "midshipmen". Crew members who started out as seamen, then became midshipmen, and later, officers, were said to have gone from "one end of the ship to the other"

Helmsman:

1) Nut attached to the rudder through a steering mechanism.  

2) One who might actually listen to the tactician.

3) Crew member who might enjoy an uncontrollable jibe.

Nautical Quote of the Week

" The charm of single handed sailing is not solitude, but independence." - Claud Worth

That's all for now Friends and Family, see you on the water.

Kindest regards

Andrew Butler