31st March: 18′ Skiffs are back!

The 18 foot skiffs had their first race weekend of the 2019 season. Future events were scheduled for the weekends of 20th April, 11th May, 3rd August, 24th August, 20th September. These are spectacular, out-and-out racing machines and capsizing is a regular part of sailing them. Normally the crew will right the boat and continue, although there might be a delay, particularly if the asymmetric spinnaker was set and needs first to be furled. However, breakages are always possible and I treat them as one of our classes of “vulnerables” if they are sailing when I am on watch.

For the racing they have one or more safety boats but the skiffs can quickly become fairly scattered and it would be useful for us to know which VHF channel they are monitoring.

Here are some photos from Calshot Tower on the 31st March…