Dragon John Field Trophy Race 1

First actual windward/ leeward of the year.  The class wanted to have an element of training for this event, which Quentin Strauss agreed to do.

We started in the library at 10.00am with three points  , starting , upwind sailing and downwind sailing. There were lots of elements to consider and new techniques to try later on the water.

It was a good wind and a good days sailing.

The start and course of the first race was badly affected by a last minute windshift meaning the line was heavily biased and the course was a fetch followed by a reach. Not an ideal start but rectified for the subsequent races by judicious mark moving.

The second race of the three Windward / Leeward races was nearest to our normal start time so it counted towards the John Field Trophy.  All of the Dragons had now realised that starting on port at the pin end was the only option with Whistle getting away first (Tempest being kind helped)  with Tempest and Suti close behind.  The order didn’t change a great deal but OCD did pass Suti to get into 3rd on the last spinnaker run but made a poor mark rounding allowing Suti to regain 3rd to the line.

Results for the day

1st Race                                                                1st Whistle  2nd OCD  3rd Tempest 4th Suti and 5th Molly

2nd Race and John Field Trophy                       1st Whistle  2nd Tempest 3rd Suti 4th OCD  5th Molly

3rd Race                                                                1st Whistle  2nd OCD  3rd Tempest 4th Molly   (Suti DNC)

Back in the library for the debrief where James Hannant showed of his impressive computer skills in projecting the videos on the screen (sometimes two at a time)

Quentin was able to look at the way the sails were trimmed and how mark rounding’s were performed (even showed Suti hitting a mark!)

I have to say I learnt an lot about sailing the Dragon.  Quentin and Philip Catmur gave an excellent presentation and I think the Medway Dragon Fleet warmly appreciated them imparting their extensive knowledge.

It will only help to make us all better Dragon sailors and am already looking forward to the next W/L in 2 weeks’ time and the East Coast Dragon Championships (ECDC) in September.

So thank you to Quentin ,Philip Catmur and to Edwin for making all the arrangement along with James filming the day.

Great job everyone