Here we are again, six months down the road, back at the little fishing village that is our satellite venue for the Games.
We flew yesterday at 8am (6am at the airport is E-A-R-L-Y) and spent the entire day travelling. It’s drizzly and foggy and light.
Today our mission is to unpack the 6 containers that have been shipped over. We’ve already been delayed with there being a hold up with breakfast (the cafeteria isn’t open yet), but we’re about to get down to the boat park now. See you later!
Hello everyone,
It’s been a while, but we are here in Weymouth for the Sail for Gold Regatta and it has been a very eventful first day already.
We arrived in two groups: the coaches catching an SQ flight and a train down to Weymouth, while we had Roy pick us up from the airport and drive us and the trailer down).
As we drove out, we were hearing squeaking all the way as we drove round bends. None of the lashings on the trailer were loose, though, so we went on.
An hour from Weymouth, we came round a roundabout (boy, are there a lot of those here), and got a warning horn from a car, accompanied by the driver pointing at our trailer. The squeaking was going like mad then so we pulled over and had a look at the wheel.
The ball bearings were shot, the hubcap had popped out, and we were so not going to make it any further.
We had a pleasant surprise then, though, as the car who had pointed it out to us came back round and stopped to help us. (Well, the driver of the car, I mean.)
And so we got a real taste of English kindness as the man called up friends, helped us to drop off the trailer at a safer place, and so we managed to get on our way and arrive at the hotel in Weymouth at a decent hour for bed.
Still, we have two boats to trail down (back and forth) to the club today, so it looks like a long day on the road – for those who have to drive, at least. (It pays to be short, in this case!)
Also, it’s SIOBHAN’S BIRTHDAY! 
While we wait for the container from China (and all the equipment and tools in it) to return, we’ve had to patch up the gasket on the available boat in Singapore using whatever materials we have.
This is a gasket:
It goes on the underside of the boat, where the centreboard fits through. Its purpose is to stop water from coming up through the centreboard hole when we sail (believe me, without a gasket, that hole is like a perpetual water fountain!)
It’s also the bane of a double-handed sailor’s life because fixing it usually means at least an hour of scraping away glue/tape and pasting on the new gasket, trying to get the tapes nice and smooth.
We’ve already done it twice this weekend, and unfortunately our proper gasket tapes are coming to us over the ocean. Please let our container be home soon!!!
We’ve been out sailing three days now. First was registration, measurement, and our first on-water session – long day, with 20kts of breeze in the afternoon. Yesterday we had the practice race, in what seemed like only 2kts at times!
While we were getting our boats set up, Brett Beyer, wildlife photographer, was hard at work taking shots of the ‘animals’ in the boat park.
Including this one, which he says makes our 4.7m dinghy look like a 40-footer.
We had to launch the powerboats sans tractors, too.
The sea of red isn’t just Singapore sailors, though. There are tons of Chinese volunteers. The launching ramp is really steep, and when we first saw it, I thought damn, it’s not going to be fun pulling the boat up that.
Well, the sheer number of volunteers makes recovering up that ramp a piece of cake!
Racing started today and we’ve kicked off with a third. Only one race got finished today because the fog got too thick – honestly, the second race was a visibility nightmare. There was some confusion with whether we actually managed to finish (and first!) before they abandoned the race. Result: we spent the rest of the evening in the protest room awaiting a redress that didn’t come out in our favour. Oh well, that’s sailing.
One thing about sailing a 470 – you’ll always need to spend a significant amount of time on boat work. Here’s how I like to see it: treat the boat kindly, and it’ll treat you well!
Having packed off to China the last boat we fixed up, we have to use another now, so we’ve been sorting out its quirks. Just in time, as our coach Craig is coming to town this weekend!
Repairs that have been done so far on Fly
+ replaced spin halyard
+ fixed boom outhaul system (which is more complicated than I’d expected)
+ adopted a new trolley system
+ fixed kicker screw
+ retied topping lift
+ fixed up three new spinnaker poles for use
+ changed chain plate
+ adjusted trapezes to proper lengths
+ secured forestay
+ replaced fraying jib halyard rope
It seems like quite a lot, but when you do a little each day, it’s not so bad.
