Dinghy Racing
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Wed 30 Jun 2010 00:03
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Wednesday 30th June
The day of the infamous dinghy
race has finally arrived. Discussions have been going on for weeks or posisbly
even months about this race. Tactics have been discussed by some, others chose
to keep their plans secret but everyone has been looking forward to it. So
obviously when we lost our dinghy we thought we were in big trouble. However,
Lucy Alice kindly lent us their spare dinghy and Chsalonina have lent us their
engine so we now have transportation again.
The twist with the dinghy race is
that you can use wind power only, no engines are allowed, there has to be a
minimum of two people in the dinghy and only one oar is permitted for
steering purposes only. Oh, and you can't use an actual sail for
a 'sail' if you know what I mean. Paul has been planning this for
weeks! We raced round to Ano Beach where the race would take place to get
started with the preparation ready for the start at 15:00. People were expecting
us to lose as our borrowed dinghy is a bit like a paddling pool, it has a very
wobbly bottom with many holes!
 I was roped in to sewing sails,
otherwise known as bed sheets whilst Paul set up the rigging
 We used the piece of wood that
holds up the awning for a mast, the boat hook to hold the sail out at the top,
ropes for the rigging and an oar for steering
 Once set up they set off for a
trial run. This was a bit of a disaster as there were headed down wind and
obviously couldn't get back. Amy attempted to swim the boat back but the sails
were so full of wind she wasn't having much luck. Luckily for them Chsalonina
felt sorry for them and gave them a tow back for them to quickly make a few
adjustments. This involved me then sewing another bed sheet on to the bottom of
the existing one for extra sail area!
 Ready to go....they have a tow
up to the start line
 It looked quite organised from
a distance, but.....
 Close up it was a mess, the
boats were everywhere facing all directions!
To start one person had to be in
the dinghy and another was allowed to push the boat out. This was slightly risky
for Amy and Paul as neither had reef shoes on and the floor was littered with
sea-urchins. They were then allowed to swim the dinghy out as far as an
aluminium hulled yacht that was anchored close to the shore to get them out of
the lee of the land.
  They're off!
 Paul and Amy managed to
overtake Miss Tippy and Fai Tira. Amy had to quickly jump in the dinghy as the
sails filled with wind and the boat overtook her whilst she was pulling it
along!
 Meanwhile, the others were
scattered all over the place and making slow progress
 They were flying - they even
had a wake!
 Miss Tippy and Blue Magic made
their way along slowly but surely. The sails are looking good and full with
wind!
 Natibou had too much weight!
Although they had a huge piece of tarpaulin as a sail it was too heavy and there
were 5 in the dinghy (a heavy dinghy at that), the engine was still on and they
used a heavy plank for the mast. I think they would have been tough competition
if they'd lost some of the weight!
 But Jackamy made it to the
finish line first! Would you believe it!
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