#inss – A blustery forecast and strong winds passing through Dun Laoghaire on Saturday night was not a good omen for the DBSC Turkey Shoot on Sunday morning. Indeed the code flags N over A were flying from the committee boat Freebird from as early as race skipper Alexander Rumball got to his boat, circa 9am writes Kenneth Rumball. What to do for our race training candidates on a Sunday morning was of course the next question?
Well, let's go sailing! Using our smaller fleet of dayboats, our modified Squibs, race training skipper Kenneth Rumball assumed the role as principal race officer, with Glyn Williams and Alexander Rumball assisting in coaching and mark laying. We had a few guests including Peter Hall and Noel Butler both who learnt to sail in the INSS but now race the 34.7 Adelie which also competes in the Turkey Shoot coming along to try their hand at racing in the squibs.
Laying a triangular course inside the harbour we had a visit from some of other competitors from the Royal St George who came out in a RIB to check were we okay as the conditions were quite rough to go sailing in.
We had three fantastic races with all crews beaming afterwards from having such a thrilling sail and in some cases clearing some sore heads from the antics of the night before!
A similar tale befell the DMYC Frostbite Series with racing also called off early due to the prevailing weather. Rather than bring our dinghy sailors out in the squibs, three of the INSS instructors, Kenneth and Alexander Rumball and Conor Corson took a Fireball dinghy and laser dinghy out for a spin. This activity was not just for fun but to show our junior sailors how to handle dinghies in the higher winds, using our new state fo the art 6.5m RIB, Glyn Williams brought 6 of our junior sailors out to watch both dinghies in action. A video of the day is available on the INSS youtube page.
A worthwhile and fun experience for instructors and sailors alike.