Wednesday, June 30, 2004
IT Regatta
Some of the PhD students in Computer Science, a couple of their partners and friends, and myself, made up a team for the IT regatta - an opportunity to network with the main IT companies, discuss research, jobs, life and all.
Actually, whilst we did a little of that, the main aim was to learn to sail and to race against these guys; the chatting could wait until the BBQ and bar in the evening. Now, whilst I sail a lot, all the other guys hadn't been before, so we had a lot to learn.
Like, when Russell suggest you put on waterproofs, it's usually a good idea - after motoring across a steep Solent chop for 45 minutes to get to Cowes to register, all were soaked through, and we hadn't put any sails up yet.
Lunch was folowed by some dockside discussions on how the boat worked, then some on the water practice, which went really well, especially as the wind was force 5 gusting 6 - for the non-sailors out there, that's 'interesting' conditions - pretty strong for beginners. We even got the asymmetric spinnaker up, and down, without too many dramas. In and tied up, then off for the rum punches, bbq and chatting.....
The following day was the race itself - after a melee of baots all trying to leave the dock at once, including a Sunsail buffoon reversing when he shouldn't have, we got down to the start and did a few tacks to practice, with the small heavy weather sail up. It was just about windy enough for them, and was forecast to pick up. But it died.
First start we wer perfectly on, and at the front - but everyone else was over, so we had to do it again. Ditto for the second start - even better, actually. But again, too many others were too keen. Third start and we led a line of boats over, but with sails that were too small and being the slowest boat in the fleet, we slowly slipped back down through the order. However, all the team worked hard, we threw the boat around the course, worked out it was fun and less wet sailing than motoring, and finished a creditible 28th out of 36.
After a lunch made under way, and rolling so muchthat Dave went quite green (but still ate his sandwich), we went for the second race. Lots of chaos and carnage at the start, which we avoided, and we raced around again - some highly adrenaline-charged moments with the asymmetric spinnaker pulling us over, and some wild rides with the breeze behind us, and we improved to 21st. Overall, 22nd, which for complete beginners is a sreditable performance, and with some reasonable networking too (at least for me), it was a successful couple of days.
Some of the PhD students in Computer Science, a couple of their partners and friends, and myself, made up a team for the IT regatta - an opportunity to network with the main IT companies, discuss research, jobs, life and all.
Actually, whilst we did a little of that, the main aim was to learn to sail and to race against these guys; the chatting could wait until the BBQ and bar in the evening. Now, whilst I sail a lot, all the other guys hadn't been before, so we had a lot to learn.
Like, when Russell suggest you put on waterproofs, it's usually a good idea - after motoring across a steep Solent chop for 45 minutes to get to Cowes to register, all were soaked through, and we hadn't put any sails up yet.
Lunch was folowed by some dockside discussions on how the boat worked, then some on the water practice, which went really well, especially as the wind was force 5 gusting 6 - for the non-sailors out there, that's 'interesting' conditions - pretty strong for beginners. We even got the asymmetric spinnaker up, and down, without too many dramas. In and tied up, then off for the rum punches, bbq and chatting.....
The following day was the race itself - after a melee of baots all trying to leave the dock at once, including a Sunsail buffoon reversing when he shouldn't have, we got down to the start and did a few tacks to practice, with the small heavy weather sail up. It was just about windy enough for them, and was forecast to pick up. But it died.
First start we wer perfectly on, and at the front - but everyone else was over, so we had to do it again. Ditto for the second start - even better, actually. But again, too many others were too keen. Third start and we led a line of boats over, but with sails that were too small and being the slowest boat in the fleet, we slowly slipped back down through the order. However, all the team worked hard, we threw the boat around the course, worked out it was fun and less wet sailing than motoring, and finished a creditible 28th out of 36.
After a lunch made under way, and rolling so muchthat Dave went quite green (but still ate his sandwich), we went for the second race. Lots of chaos and carnage at the start, which we avoided, and we raced around again - some highly adrenaline-charged moments with the asymmetric spinnaker pulling us over, and some wild rides with the breeze behind us, and we improved to 21st. Overall, 22nd, which for complete beginners is a sreditable performance, and with some reasonable networking too (at least for me), it was a successful couple of days.
Comments:
Post a Comment
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
Atom
RSS