An elite group of 5 sailors turned up at Gautby Rd today to be greeted by a full lake, no weed, no algae (the bottom of the lake was actually visible), no rain and no wind. Maybe it was the forecast of heavy showers and gale force winds arriving mid-morning that put most people off, but as it turned out we had a good sailing session which stayed dry until we finished and with a breeze that filled in as we launched. A+ rigs were obviously selected with the anticipation that we might need to change down if the predicted wind did arrive, but this didn’t happen and apart from the odd gust that flattened us, it was the right rig choice all morning
The usual course was sailed but with no windward spreader mark. The beat was certainly shifty and gusty and the run was full of holes … but that is pretty normal for Gautby Rd.
The racing was notable for 3 particular reasons:
- The remarkable number of boat on boat collisions during racing despite only having 5 boats on the water
- Clive sailing the shifts very well and consequently being first round the windward mark and winning most races
- Clive having several outrageous pieces of luck (that he really didn’t need to win the day) with James being the main victim
I can confirm that the lake is now fully sailable so hopefully this encourages everybody back onto the water in the coming weeks. Thanks as usual to Dave Williams for taking the photos and creating the score sheet.
