Sometimes leaving your boat in the water during the winter is rewarded by some of the best sailing of the year. Sometimes it's easy to see why, traditionally, the season ended in October.
This year's been a bit like that. A combination of atrocious weekend weather and other commitments on days when it would have been nice to go out means that the planned winter cruising just hasn't happened. But the Boxing Day race made up for what we have been missing.
For more than 30 years, our club has run a race on Boxing Day, originally for the Albatross Trophy (a china chamber pot, on to which winners traditionally painted their own names) and more recently for Pete's Pot, a much more elegant silver antique (originally designed for the same function) presented in memory of a young club member who died on Boxing Day.
We like to support the race, partly to remember Pete, partly because it's a great way to blow away the Christmas cobwebs, partly because there's always a good social gathering in the bar afterwards - and because it's just great to be out on the water.
Evidently plenty of other people have the same idea: quite a few other boats were out for a Boxing Day sail, enjoying the winter sunshine without needing the incentive of the race. But the boats on the start line ranged in handicap terms from a Squib to an X35 - a nightmare for the race officer, who had to devise a course that would satisfy the bigger boats, while getting the Squib home before dark!
There was not much breeze, so he sensibly set a couple of circuits of a river course, which could be shortened at a number of points as boats recrossed the club line. We took a bet before the start that we'd do one and a half circuits before the shortening signal, and that's what we got.
The spectators on the bank thought we'd all be frozen. (They were quite cool). But with three spinnaker hoists and recoveries, not to mention a bit of short tacking, and some close quarters mark rounding, we kept pretty warm!
In fact the Boxing Day race has become such a favourite in the club calendar that in Millennium Year a New Year's Day race was launched (for the Ice Bucket trophy!).
We'll be out again for that, hoping to go one better than our second place on Boxing Day.
And then the boat will come out of the water.
Somehow the end of the season seems less painful when it's already next year!
