What our instructors are up to this summer – part 2

Our instructors have spent the summer testing their skills and having new adventures. We spoke to Doug, Senior Instructor at Calshot, about his recent sailing trip.

Where did you go?

I went to Stone Sailing Cub on the River Blackwater in Essex.

What did you get up to?

I was competing in Stone Week, the Club's annual week-long regatta. I sailed with my wife Georgia in a 2000 class dinghy. There were 12 boats in our class and 64 boats entered for the whole week. As we hadn’t raced a dinghy together for a couple of years, we had no idea where we would place in the event.

We had nice conditions for the first race, enough wind to power up the boats, but not enough to make us work super hard. This meant we were able to focus on tactics and we came second place! Throughout the rest of the week, we were fairly consistent, getting another second place, as well as a few fourth and fifth places.

We did have a shocker of a race where we came last, but in sail racing you can discard your worst result. This all meant that we came third overall, which was our aim going into the event!

What was the best bit of your adventure?

The best bit of the week was probably recovering from an awful start and sailing into second place. We also made some bold choices with the tide and wind shifts which paid off for us. Getting to race with Georgia again was great! On a morning with no wind, I went tow foiling too which was pretty cool.

Did you get to practice any skills?

We didn't really learn anything new, but we re-learnt how to work together to race and think more tactically - as well as the hard skills like roll tacking the boat.

It was really nice to spend a week pushing my sailing skills to the limit. Most of the time I spend sailing for work is either in beginner boats or teaching from a powerboat. This week was a refreshing change, allowing me to challenge myself and break away from the usual routine!