Waldringfield Squadron Update 2023

This Month Waldringfield welcomed 10 new crews and 16 new helms to the squad. Pairing up with experienced crews and helms new Cadet sailing careers were launched. In the separate groups the teams enjoyed some theory before taking to the water for a great practical session. In the coming weeks we’re looking forward to some racing and joining in with the legendary Waldringfield Regatta at the end of June.

News From Alex :
It all started with my new boat arriving home in the container from Australia on 18th March. A late night drive to Weymouth with traffic and rain launched my selector series. Arriving in Portland at 10:00pm the wind was howling. The first mission was to secure the trailer as another submarine cadet incident was not needed. Waking up on Saturday morning the worst of the wind had blown through much to my relief. Driven by sibling rivalry, the nerve racking experience of my first selector as a helm began. After the first day with a mixed bag of results including an OCS, my discard was gone. I still managed to get a good night's sleep, ready and prepared for the second day. With tired bodies and a good effort my crew Jude and I were really pleased to come out of Weymouth with a first place in silver fleet and new Vaikobi sunglasses. The pressure was now on as we were laying 7th place overall, a qualifying position for the world team.

Discussions began whether to cancel other planned commitments to make the second selector and defend my position; sailing won. Now with a different mindset I talked my Dad into driving to Burnham on the Friday night, to get the boat rigged ready for the morning. Light winds and lots of tide fulfilled the weekend, putting on extra pressure and giving us more to think about. With only four races sailed over the weekend, I was relieved as good results had put me and Jude a place higher on the series leading up to Sheppey.

Everything was to play for now and could still easily be lost. Starts were my focus for the weekend, to try and get a good position at the windward and then hopefully keep it to the finish. Not as good a first race as I would have liked, but by the end of the day things had improved and I was still in the team, closing the gap to the next boats. Sunday morning was a little tense after everyone had digested the series results posted the night before. Jude and I were sticking with our plan, but again the first race of the day was not pleasing. A reset of our minds and race 5 and 6 were sailed. Coming ashore I was confident that we had performed well.

All in all, a new team, our first proper class events and we have exceeded our expectations. The result from Weymouth made us more determined for each of the next events and we were really pleased to move higher up the rankings each time. After starting my crewing journey in October 2016, I am now looking forward to the next three years as a helm. I hope I can help develop Jude into an amazing crew and support his transition into helming as my helms did for me.