St Mary's Calne
Congratulations to Flora H (UIV) who competed in the the 'Round the Island' sailing race around the Isle of Wight on Saturday! Here, her family report on Flora's amazing experience of the race, which is can be very long and tough, depending on the levels of wind:
'The team were up at 4.20am on Saturday to get to the start line, with some breezy conditions forecast. They had Force 6 winds gusting Force 8 all day and were blown inside out! Flinging yourself from one side of the boat to another when tacking or jibing in order to sit ‘on the rail’ to level the boat is no fun at all, even in more pleasant conditions. It’s pretty terrifying and there are moments when you can find yourself almost dangling off the boat, feet nearly in the water, as Flora experienced on Saturday!
The sea was very choppy and the wind was unrelenting. Jiro, the boat they were on was one of the 153 boats that finished the race out of over 1000 that entered! They finished in seven hours and Flora was an integral member of the team, tailing the halliard ropes and making buns for lunch. The second photo in the slideshow shows the RNLI passing their boat on the way to rescue another yacht in the race, while the last photo shows the crew on the rail, with Flora being the smaller one nearer the back.'