David Eberlin reports from Raceboard Wednesday at Notts County Sailing Club…

Notts County Sailing Club is one of the more active Raceboard clubs, with up to eight Raceboards on the start line some Sundays. The Raceboard is ideal for getting out and having some competition in the lighter winds found inland. For the last few years Dave Hackford, one of the leading contenders for the National Title, and the Starboard Tushingham supremo  has come down to give members of the club a training evening. This year he persuaded Mark Kay & John White, his two main rivals to join him so Notts County windsurfers were treated to the best in the fleet, in addition Rich from Dave Nobles brought lots of sails and some boards for club members to play on.

For a change there was some wind, and it was relatively steady (till the rain came through) and over 24 sailors listened to Dave talking about rigs, railing and upwind legs. Then the majority (over 15) got out on the water on their Raceboards, to do a 20 minute exercise, pushing railing to the limit.

This was followed by  three races with good upwind legs . A Starboard T shirt was up for grabs on the final race, won by Russ Towns, and a special prize was awarded to Jack North who chose the event to return to the water after a serious illness.

An excellent meal was provided by Pauline the club caterer and of course the bar opened.