Whats going on

The season is nearly over so the focus is moving onto winter training, building second A and B rigs for the VISS and getting to grips with my transfer away from Futaba and Spectrum transmitters to Radiomaster.

I love the new sails that came with the VISS. The latest cloth is a great improvement and it is easy to reduce any creases caused by contacts to a barely noticeable. I am getting used to the boat slowly and have to say it is a different beast to sail than the Proteus. One needs to sail freer with more twist but the performance and look is good. What is nice is to have a stable platform to work with and know where I am each time I go out sailing.

I have also sorted the transmitter programming so I can adjust and fix sheeting angles by degree, ease sheets by 5 and 10mm at the click of a switch, engage high mode using the sheeting stick and execute snap gybes at the press of a button. Sounds overly complicated but I find that one or two of each program is useful for the four classes I sail.

The recent sailing outings in the district were successful but I have got to figure out why my speed is always poor off a start line. It doesnt matter what I sail the story is the same. On the second and subsequent beats I am quick as lightning so I am doing something wrong, and in the bigger events, it is killing me.

Lastly it is a busy time preparing for the worlds. Creating visibility for our sport and engaging the wider dinghy and keelboat community is challenging but I am hoping worthwhile. If we can encourage the wider audience to take a look at our sport and understand the fun, understanding and learning that the sport can deliver, they might try joining in.

Keep warm and dry in your sailing and above all have fun.