In the end, only 4 boats competed in this inaugural 2-day event, PSC invited
RSYC Rear Commodore Martin Axe and Sailing Secretary Irshad to participate
offering to provide boats, but sadly, neither was able to come
The four intrepid sailors were
RSYC and PSC Vice Commodore Rama crewed by wife VG sailing Lady VG
Rainer Kloberg with Martin as crew in Kittiwich
Yasid with Charles Vincent as crew in Ratastosk ( the Squirrel )
PSC Commodore Jeremy Camps with Eppi as crew in his new Cabaret7
With a slightly depressing 30to 40-knot wind forecast, we gathered on a nice
sunny Saturday morning with zero wind, slightly late, the fleet set off on the
ebb tide with a beat to windward, constant place changing all the way with
gusts coming gave great racing, but Cab 7 led the fleet out to our usual Selat
mark
The course was navigation buoys Selat,Tail and Agas as the finishing line to
be followed by a short race to RSYC, so we arrived together
We were slightly late, and by the time we arrived at Selat, the tide was turning
and as usual, the wind died, in spite of trying Kittiwich and the Squirrel could
not make it, Jeremy had tried and failed each time being further from the
buoy wisely gave up and started the run-up past west port
Sadly this spoiled the race, but the objective of a long sail remained
The wind picked to give a great spinnaker run to Tail , Cab 7 out of sight of the
other boats rounded and reached up to Agas to finish a moral victory ( invalid
as we did not round Selat ) with the advent of rain all sailed up to RSYC where
Tom and the RSYC boat team had cleared a space on the inside pontoon , we
reached there shortly after 4.30 so 6 and half hours sailing , just sad about the
Selat hold up
At Vice Commodore Rama s invitation, we adjourned to the RSYC members' bar
where the PSC Commodore, parched with thirst, provides considerable
qualities of beer, sadly no RSYC sailors were there to join us
A special mention must go to our member and now RSYC Committee member
Andy, who launched his speed boat to check all was well with us, taking photos
of excellent quality, as usual, Our great appreciation Andy you are a Star!
The Commodore has every confidence in 4 competent crews, each with an
outboard motor correctly felt a support boat was unnecessary, but it was
comforting to see Andy
The following morning we met at RSYC to find our boats surrounded by rubbish
tons of it , clearly all efforts to prevent this in the 6 years since we left to set
up PSC have been in vain , so sad and making departure more complex
A great beat with the tide was followed by a rapid change in direction and with
the wind dying we motored slowly along past Westport
Then the wind got up, blowing at least 20 knots but typically right on the nose ,
forcing us to tack back and forth across the channel , as always we were careful
not to get in the way of any of the large ships entering and leaving the port ,
apparently some were warned by a police boat and they not knowing the
competence of our crews or having any sailing knowledge probably did not
appreciate the difficulties of tacking into a 2 knot plus tide , finally the tide
lessened, we could stop motor sailing, and we all made it out and round to our
own river enjoying a nice run to the clubhouse arriving safe and sound
Phoebe had organised a members' barbeque cooked by Vladimir and wife
Benny for members and the delicious aromas drifting downwind made this
irresistible to hungry sailor, great food well prepared, thanks Phoebe we look
forward to the next one and a fitting end to a great weekend
We know we can do this again, our great little boats proved up to a voyage
like this , we must start on time each time a 30-minute delay makes more of
adverse tides
It does illustrate the problem of inconsistent winds zero / 10 knots /zero/20
knots / RAIN !
Jeremy Camps
Commodore , PSC