Hi guy’s, last weekend was our first race training day on Pittwater 30/3/14. Although only Geoff Clift and myself (Peter Du Ross)turned up, and with just two Weta’s we still had a great day of match race sailing. We had two races around Scotland Island and a few practice starts with count downs. Best of all Geoff showed me how easy it was to put the Weta into a “Hove-to” position. For those who are not accustom to the meaning of “Hove-to” it is a boat that has completed the process of “heaving-to”, with it’s jib aback (Back winded), it’s main sail loosely trimmed, and it’s rudder securely positioned to steer close to the wind. In plain English we parked the two Weta’s in the middle of Pittwater, full sails up and not flapping madly away in the 8 – 10 knot breeze, just gently drifting to Leeward whilst we had lunch. Geoff was better prepared than I was as he had a gourmet luncheon with him, and I swear I saw a small bottle of wine on his foredeck, which he will profusely deny. Myself, I just had a couple of nut bars and water. “Hove-to” is also a great manoeuver for racing as well, which can be used whilst waiting for race starts and obviously in between races instead of dropping sails or landing on the beach or even doing running adjustments in between. We also found a jetty off Taylors point which will make a great start line for future races as you can use the flag poles on the jetty to line up together to form a start line for races starting both north and south. By the way the winner’s of the races were the two sailor’s who had the biggest grin’s on their faces after a fantastic day out. Hope to see more Weta’s out this Sunday 6/4/14 for more info on Pittwater racing and training give me a call on 0418473868 or at peterduross@bigpond.com Cheers Pete