PKRA - Third day - Course Racing in very light winds

Day three provided very light winds for us here in St Peter Ording, Germany. The focus of the day was on course racing. The race set up was adapted due to these conditions and the decision was made to start the day with a long course in a square box.

The first starting line of the day was going straight against the wind, which made an interesting decision for the racers who could either chose to start starboard or port.

Judge Anki Knutson explained that the starboard tack is the priority, when you are sailing with your right hand forward. Since the first race was very long we took some time to explore the origin of the words, starboard comes from the early days of sailing. “Before ships had rudders on their centerlines, they were steered by use of a specialized steering oar. This oar was held by an oarsman located in the stern (back) of the ship. However, like most of society, there were many more right-handed sailors than left-handed sailors. (…) An early version of "port" is larboard but when shouted in the wind, was presumably too easy to confuse with starboard[1] and so the word port came to replace it. Port is derived from the practice of sailors mooring ships on the left side at ports in order to prevent the steering oar from being crushed." (Ref. Wikipedia)