Unusually for recent time we arrived to a north westerly light breeze, which comes generally from the top right hand end of the lake and the industrial buildings which provide the typical Gautby road conditions. Enough shifts and holes to tax the patience of the 12 helms on the starting line. Added to the lack of wind, persistent rain fell for most of the first session and you can picture 13 well wrapped up sailors. Unfortunately Dave Williams suffered gear failure whilst rigging his boat, so the rest of us didn’t complain when he volunteered to be our RO for the day, his loss was our gain – many thanks Dave! We also had 1 visitor from Gressford, John Pritchard who proved a worthy addition to the fleet.The course was set, with the start line at the club end, a beat up to the top right hand corner (to port), over to a spreader mark and then down the full length of the lake to a single buoy (again to port) and a beat back up the lake using either one or two laps with the finish halfway up.
Racing was extremely competitive from the start with several lead changes in each race, thanks to the shifts and holes. Five races were sailed in the first session with a mixture of 1 and 2 laps just to change things as the wind strength varied. At the half way stage John Br was leading the way with 3 wins, chased by a group containing, Alan, John C, Clive and Tony, who themselves were only just ahead of Martin, John Pritchard, Frans and Paul.
After the lunch break the wind strength improved a little but there were still a lot of holes to trap even the best helms. Martin was getting his eye in and set the early pace taking the first 3 wins, Clive sailed very consistently to take 5 seconds, John Pritchard gaining a well deserved win and John Br taking the final win in the last race. Racing was very tight throughout the rest of the fleet though with many duels being fought all the way to the line.
The final standings after 10 races
1. John Brierley 15pts 4 wins
2. Clive Warren 20pts 7 seconds
3. Martin Roberts 23pts 4 wins
4. Alan Watkinson 29pts 1 win
5. John Pritchard 35pts 1 win
6. Frans King 43pts
7. Dave Howard 58pts
8. John Carlin 59pts
9. John Beech 62pts
10. Paul Little 62pts
11. Tony Sedgwick 68pts
12 Malcolm Harvey 99pts
