Author: Peter Baldwin

An eventful day off the water, with the start delayed owning to the Honorary Secretary having unwisely called an EGM for 11.00 and racing disrupted by a fishing “supporter” moving up and down the pond-side, screaming at and threatening members and their boats whilst we sailed.

Compared with that, events on the water were quite tame. What wind there was for the first race blew up the pond from the Southeast, giving us an interesting beat and a challenging run with many holes in the wind, leaving many participants wondering whether they would ever cross the finish line. As the morning progressed, the wind filled in, giving us enough breeze to sail in but still giving us with very shifty conditions. Despite the late start and the very slow first race, we managed eight races before 1pm and, after discards, the results after 2 discards were:

1. Peter Baldwin               6pts                 7 firsts
2. Derek Matthews         17pts                1 first
3. Alan Watkinson          17pts
4. Dave Williams             22pts
5. Malcolm Harvey         24pts
6. Charles Legg                28pts
7. John Beech                   36pts
8. Richard Walker          40pts

Thanks to Ian Roberts who acted as our RO

Thanks also go to our Commodore and Vice Commodore for donning the waders and clearing some lake debris, assisted by the Club Captain with a grappling hook.  Plenty of debris and lots of fishing line around marks was removed.

A grey day, that constantly threatened to rain but hardly did, but blessed us with winds blowing along the lake from the Gautby Road end and giving us a beat from the Northeast corner of the pond to the opposite Western corner. Needless to say, while the broad wind direction was consistent, the detail varied from race to race and from point to point on the pond. What was a near port fetch to the first mark in one race turned into a starboard fetch in another This was a day on which the ability to read the shifts really paid off. Nine people sailed, giving us nine races with each of us acting as race officer in turn. The results were:

1. Andrew Potter      8 pts
2. Mike De St. Paer 11 pts
3. Neil Westbrook  15 Pts
4. John Carlin           19 pts
5. Dave Williams    26 pts
6. Simon Bates        27 pts
7. Richard Walker  29 pts
8. Charles Legg       30 pts
9. John Beech           39 pts

Nine sailors turned out this week for a gusty afternoons racing with a wind forecast to be WSW and so diagonally down the lake from the far end.  Peter donned the waders to move marks around to form a course for the forecast wind, but the gusts could shift the wind by up to 40 degrees and back again within seconds making the beat a fetch or even close reach at times.  B or low aspect A rigs were favoured today, with those on “A’s” hoping to survive the gusts whilst gaining in the lulls.

In the end, only 7 sailors made it through the day, with gear failure or difficulties coping with the gusts causing a couple of dropouts.

After establishing a good lead in Race 1, Peter lost his jib tie down on the last beat and narrowly lost the win to John.  John then went onto win the next three races as well, until Graham won his first race followed by a good start to end win for Alan in Race 6 and a short break for refreshments.

After the break, Alan had another win, before Peter had a run of three consecutive race wins, with Graham taking the final, Race 11 win.  During the day, everyone struggled for consistency in the gusty conditions, with places won and lost depending on whether you were in the right place to make the best of any gust and associated shift.  The conditions did, however, allow most of the fleet time at the front and vie for the win.  The last race being one where the first 5 boats all crossed the finish line within about 5 seconds.

John took the day with his 4 wins, Peter was second on three and Graham just pipped Martin to take third on countback based upon his two wins.  Thanks go to Dave, Bill and John Carlin for helping to run the races over the afternoon.

1. John Brierley        Uno                         84  19pts (4 wins)
2. Peter Baldwin      Uno                         63  22pts (3 wins)
3. Graham Elliott    Argon                     09  25pts (2 wins)
4. Martin Roberts   Pocket Rocket   133   25pts
5. Alan Watkinson  Uno                         23    34pts
6. Neil Westbrook   Uno                         03    41pts
7. Dave Williams     Uno                         33    59pts

A chilly but dry day with a light wind from the Clubhouse end. Eight skippers contested the nine races using A+ sails. the starts without a RO were very honest which gave very close racing up to the first mark, from then on the course taken on the run to the wide gate determined your final position.

With John Brierley and John Carlin taking 8 races between them, they could not stop Alan from taking the other one. The close racing amongst the fleet gave for a very pleasant mornings sailing.

1. John Brierley           8pts 6wins
2. John Carlin             14pts 2wins
3. Neil Westbrook    22pts
4. Alan Watkinson   25pts 1win
5. Richard Walker    29pts
6. Dave Williams      30pts
7.  Malcolm Harvey 45pts
8. John Beech             51pts