Wow , Chilly it could well have been, the temperature that greeted the seven skippers, some of whom had travelled a fair distance I may add was 1 degree above Zero, Most houses and areas had a fair dusting of snow some say 4 inches, some did not brag about it, but the gritters had been to most places, and the roads if you were careful were ok . Rob Wilson the OOD got there early, and we all decided to leave the dingy where it was and use the marks available to us , worked out well as it happened, the breeze once it was found was in the South east, much more of a whisper , and racing started and finished on the South Bank, “sounds exotic doesn’t it ” It was not,, but the trampling feet soon had the snow bedded down, and racing begun, very light whisper of a breeze as I said before and Pete W sailing his Venti made light work of race one, securing the over Darin ,, race two and in fact race 3 Darin 49 got the bullets, and race 4 Rob W 97 took a win, generally the racing was tight, and with no wind chill , all skippers stayed warm as far as I know, it was great to have such a good turnout in very adverse conditions, and we know that some skippers were just unable to get to the lake due to the conditions , but you all have one more chance 17th December will be round five of this series and I am expecting it could well be a mince pie day , However back to the present , 9 races completed Darin with 5 wins Pete with a brace and Chris E 74 and Rob W 97 one a piece, some skippers found it very tricky to get to grips but hey as always, as we know cream rises, so very well done to Darin who by the way travelled a fair old distance to race , enjoyed by all a morning of fresh air and one again good racing. in fact a pleasure to be out .

Adrian Cripps as OOD had everything in hand for a prompt start with a lovely light SW wind that kicked in at just the right time. A simple and appropriately short course was set and stood for the whole session with an initial race of 1 lap (with 2 windward beats) before moving to 2 laps (3 beats) as the wind steadied. The day was very cool …. but the racing was red hot over all 12 races!

The majority of wins were shared between Jen and Martyn with 5 each. Dave and Sam scored a bullet each. Dave caused much amusement by his attempt to set a record for how many times a skipper could be over the line at the start. He was cheered on as he managed 5 or 6 and had no competition on that aspect of the day. He did recover his race position admirably each time though and tied with Jen for second place with 23 points, only losing out on countback. Martyn took the day with 18 points.

The results don’t really tell the story of how tight the racing was, with most skippers enjoying good positions at some point during the races, and those positions changing frequently as skippers picked up wind shifts and sailed tactically. The finishing was frequently a rapid succession of boats, so close was the racing. All this was conducted with some good-natured banter and with very few incidents requiring penalty turns making this a very enjoyable day.

Many thanks to Adrian for the setup and guiding the day’s racing …. plus doing more than his fair share of the starts! Ed had a few rig and battery issues and took over start line duties for the final few races; thank you Ed! Thank you also to those that participated in the final efficient tidy away.

Martyn Aspinall

26 November 2023

OOD Roger Bowtle had everything sorted by the time I Micky Boy arrived and we just needed to get the course laid and and we were ready to go. great breeze from the South West, probably 70% of top suit and filling, clear skies a bit wet under foot as 12 skippers started to arrive, First up we had a bit of a teach in by Pete on the how’s and how not to get to the weather mark in good shape, spotting shifts and when and when not to act on them, Pete had a captivated audience from just before 9 am with many questions being asked and duly answered, One skipper actually made the effort even tho he was not sailing today, so very well done to all and I am sure many of you will have gained a valuable insight in this very difficult subject .

As you can see from the score sheet Chris E 74 with two T’s was not in a sharing mood today , winning 6 of the the 8 races , in fine style I may add, the racing was a lot closer than it looked, and once again consistency was key, if you look at the top four places, it was a good three beats and 2 runs course, and a variety of designs were on the water, including 2 Lintels that go way back , Martyn A 95 had a desperate day and cant wait to get his hands on his next boat which I am sure will propel him much closer to the sharp end of the fleet, Dave R 57 was having a good day as was Cooper man with his Venti and a torn jib that was hastily repaired, Nice to see Adrian C 77 back after a bit of an absence, Kevin E 20 was also doing well , and I hear his new boat has been moulded deep down Valencia way. Towards the end the breeze built and invariably we had one or two casualty’s, and in the final race we were down to 6 skippers.

A couple of even results that were broken by the computer, and to be honest a good race day that we all enjoyed , Very well done to Chris E for the win, which gives the BP’s the bragging rights for a couple of weeks , and many thanks to all for making light work of putting everything away at the end. Also many thanks to Alan E for taking a few pictures of us all , great stuff .

Sunday the 12th with one or two skippers away at Fleetwood with the dragon TT running , and waking up to fog, and no wind, we arrive at Lincoln to find Colin the assistant race officer for the day  had arrived early, to get the ball rolling for the mornings racing.  Seven skippers turned up and were set up ready to go, so we decided between us all to have one practice race before 10 o’clock.  We then started racing. The first race, started in light winds and up the first beat it was all very close. then the wind died. We decided to postpone for a little while hoping for the wind to fill back in. Unfortunately this did not happen so we decided to have a coffee break and at 11 o’clock held a one minute silence for remembrance day.   After the coffee break, we lost one skipper who decided to go home. The racing got under way shortly after 11.   I decided to have short quick racing. Unfortunately it wasn’t quick due to not a lot of wind up, but overall managed to get ten races in with a one or two skippers standing out in the mornings racing. 

Many thanks Tim

Not a lot of skippers today . But a late flash of news has just come in , Racing was on the South bank and just prior to the two minute countdown a fish was seen up in the corner near the container , unfortunately, the Species was not established and, also much to the disappointment of you all he did not let on his name, I am sworn to secrecy as to whom spotted it , but apparently it was the highlight of the morning , Well done to Young Colin H for his win. and obviously the tips from another member re light wind sailing on Saturday paid off .

Thanks to Tim H for standing is as OOD , and amazingly getting ten races done and dusted.