We rose on Sunday with great expectations. The conditions turned out better even than the forecasts. Blowing wind from the N East with a pendulum from NE to due East. The wind darkened the surface from time to time. In the AM Michaela and Mack ventured out in Brian’s Comet and David sallied out in the Solo. No one else (with a boat) at the club. Off we went tacking, jibing, planing, heeling and generally having a good time in the sunshine. And then David’s traveller malfunctioned and he had to retire. So Michaela won the AM somewhat against the run of play but Who Dares Wins.
The PM saw an entry fom Tim and Milly in their Merlin. Against them rode Andrew with Richard Cass on shotgun. Alas for Tim he got into spinnaker halyard grief. In a Merlin?? Surely Not??
Andrew and Richard prevailed to the end and scored a win. David took on Ian in George’s Comet. The weather suited the Solo which is well adapted to high winds. Martin Evans ADO assisting Hywell Perkins set an I to B course for Ian and David in response to David’s complaint that short courses weren’t always helpful to Handicappers if they barely caught their breath between their marks. In practice it was an I to D with one additional tack to get out of B. Good fun. How did David fix his traveller? Martin and Hywell showed how and it was done. No more out of control sliding traveller car.
David 1st , Ian 2nd. Ian went swimming around the B mark but recovered the boat fairly quickly. David almost went in twice but hung on by his finger nails.
Lots of pleasure cruisers aiming directly for our turning marks so no change there. The best day for a very long time overall.
Thanks go to Hannah in the Timekeeper’s box and lots of cake via Suzie Peerless.
Dave Gettings