This race was fought out by thirteen WS Racers taking on a fierce 15 knot NNE wind gusting up to 20 knots. The air temperature was lower than it has been so far this autumn and fortunately everyone was appropriately dressed so that they could concentrate on getting their dinghies around the course as quickly as possible. The course started at the western end of the lake between Mark A and a distance mark, followed by a tough beat directly into the wind up to and rounding Mark D to port, to start the first downwind leg across to Mark C which had to be gybed round to head for the downwind Mark A.
An interesting Race Report has been provided by The Trustee in the Comments below and here are some photos taken – one might think given the size of his equipment – by a prize winning photographer, recording the excitement of the day and below them is the final result of the race and below that is the schematic showing each Racer’s progress made during the race.
1. Mike Blatchford; 2. Kim Sparkes; 3. Phil and James; 4. Peter Gregory; 5. Malcolm Hill and Bob; 6. David Mason; 7. Steve Farmer; 8. Mark Cayzer and Mike; 9. Brian Mac; 10. Fay Watson and Charles; 11. Bill Garry. Andy Wallace and Peter Wagner did not finish.
At last a fair race. The day started with a building wind and tension round the clubhouse. The 2 F’s arrived together, but as soon as The Fisher heard about the ramdom drugs and alcohol tests he declined to race.However, it was noted that he was allowed to spend the morning in the race control boat…and The Race Director looked very smug at lunchtime.With The Thomas off with “friends” in the Costa del Sol, the tall handsome Irishman took charge and clearly boat allocation was done in a thoughtful and fair manner…the blonde in the reeds yet again turned up late pleading for her normal “fast ” 303 but NO favours were given and off she went with a scowl on her face,clearly noting the occupants of the Race Control boat with concern. As for the red devil(peril??) Gregory was in his usual buoyant form till the pre race check for underwater propulsion…and yes the dolphin was removed and forever more will be a footnote to the history of our great competition.As for the rest, young Wagner had his usual “iboat” sponsored by the apple boys and Fay was teamed up with a new boy on the block and suddenly the race was on. There was a lot of money on The Londoner in the 2.4(surely with his white hair and maturity he would at last come good) and also on James until the arrival of Sam on the water which seemd to distract he and Phil just at the critical part of proceedings. As for the “Mac” when will he learn that stopping in the long grass for his “elevenses” is never going to have him on the podium…John King is rumoured to be working on a new system which will allow Mac to consume his daily buscuit intake whilst continuing to sail.
And then the moment of truth…the wind was now howling and it was time for the boys to become men….but first small Andy and then young Wagner retired early…Andy claiming that a Trustee sitting in Mark”water gun” Cayzer’s rocket propelled 303 had deliberately crossed the whole lake to ram him as he was about to move off the bottom of the leader board and then the iboat also retired with the youngster came in saying that his sponsors(le Pomme) had clearly provided him with inferior equipment which somehow allowed water to impregnate his best casual clothes( note…proper sailing gear is recommended for boy racers).That left us with the serious participants…”Water Gun” having diverted to ram a fellow competitor fell to almost bottom,Phil and Sam’s best friend allowed a winning position to slip, the less said about the Blonde and The Londoner the better, poor Malcolm Hill put Bob to sleep with yet another irish joke( he will be allocated Ann’s bathtub in future) which left…..yes, the tension builds…The Other Mike who silently stole through the pack and took a well deserved win displaying a real talent for choosing the right boat(please note that he asked for a Martin but the Handsome Irishman insisted on allocating him a Liberty hence paving the way for the trouncing of the once invincible red rocket/devil/peril. Well done The Other Mike and spare a thought for the Farmer …another one with his new shell suit looking wet and bedraggled and muttering about verbal abuse from the Race Directors launch…but I understand David Bailey has taken loads of photos which will tell the whole story…..?
Well trustee… I asked my dad the night before ‘Should I prepare my waterproof trousers for tomorrow (Thursday)?’ and the response was the famous last words ‘No no I think you’ll be ok’. On a side note, I think that I have a sponge ball for the servo steering stick if I can get the holder thing out of it. I’ll be ready for next week!
Suffice to say that I was well and truly battered on the day (but not by Andy) and promptly fell asleep when I got home. To be woken at 8pm by my son! Well done to all those brave competitors that took part and to those that chose the safety boat! A very wise decision on the day and hopefully the pictures will tell the story.
I don’t seem to be registered …?(is this a technical term in dinghy racing or are you planning to join the Labour party?)
Are you able to tell me how to do that please?(No, too dangerous to allow you free access to write what you want)
Do I need to have a trustee acess?(no, and we do believe in censorship)
M
Congratulations to Mother Nature and to David and Peter and all the other volunteers for laying on one of the most challenging and rewarding, and windiest and wettest races in my season so far. What with the howling of the wind and the lapping and the slapping of the water against the hull and the flapping and the cracking of the sails I couldn’t hear the countdown instructions, or even the whistle. All I heard was a strangled howl from the committee boat which I took to be a premature start announcement to me, so I sent myself back for a restart which left me playing unsuccessful catch up. Perhaps WS could run to a megaphone for Mr Starter. I didn’t hear the finishing whistle either, but only saw Peter signalling a boundary four with each hand, or perhaps indicating ‘don’t bother to call the vet it’s dead already.’ Perhaps a klaxon would be in order as well. What about, also, a ‘five minutes to go’ signal, so that we would know when we could get off the turbulent water and have lunch. Altogether a very enjoyable ( in retrospect) race. Much appreciated!