Captains Log

With the JOG season well and truly over it now seems as if it all happened far too quickly! Reflecting upon this years events, it suddenly struck me that this is the first season I can remember where I have had to wear all three layers of my sailing gear at some point during every race. Am I getting old or did we really have a wet summer with very little sun?

Certainly the race to Poole was very tough with very strong gusty winds. It had me recalling the time we went around the back of the Island into a gale. Interestingly, as in that past race, Competitors in this years Poole race were sensible and safe - showing good judgement and seamanship. The camaraderie in Poole amongst competitors was fantastic. In the bar afterwards knowing looks were passed with tired eyes over good beer as everyone relaxed and talked of their experiences. Fortunately, the race back was perfect, a sunny day with kites up and a blast back to Cowes. The agony of the beat out to Poole was almost worth it for the race back!

The weather also treated us kindly for the last race of the season to Cherbourg. A gentle drift out of the Solent with a lovely sunset under clear skies followed by a strengthening breeze to make sure we all got in at a reasonable time - it was a perfect end to the season.

The Solent is a busy place for yacht racing and there are a significant number of clubs offering an excellent variety of racing. It is gratifying to see JOG continues to grow and prosper. This year we had a total of 668 entries for the offshore and inshore series with 548 starters over a total of 15 races (excluding the Illingworth Challenge). Last year we had 642 entries with 511 starters over a total of 16 races. Whilst it is not our best year ever for entry numbers, which was in 2004, this year does show an improvement and hopefully, a stop to the gradual decline in entries of the past 3 years.
I am sure most of your thoughts will now be moving away from yacht racing and on to other things, such as Christmas, skiing etc. The Committee, however, will continue with its efforts throughout the winter. There is the Club's AGM on 22nd November to prepare for and also there will undoubtedly be work to be done on the feedback from our second Club Members Chalk and Talk Session.

Finally, the success of our racing is due to a host of reasons but there is one which is significant and deserves more than a passing mention - the JOG Volunteers! Without our team of enthusiastic volunteers who willingly and wholeheartedly give up their free time to assist Peter, our Secretary, we could not race as we do. They are there at the start to check us in through the identity gate and they often are up in the early hours of the morning to record our finishes too.
Thank you!

Paul Harding
Captain