What a fantastic mornings racing, on a day when we should have been hosting the anual Clive Hand Memorial trophy, the weather gods shone on us, Fine weather a nice Easterly breeze around 10 knots, and some excellent course setting by Tim Hand. 14 skippers showed up keen to get started, I even noticed some practicing before racing started proper ” Nice” .

Racing was going to be on the South bank with three long beats and two runs, The weather marks being laid at the furthest they could be, and they did become an eyesight test for some one or to skippers, Shift’s there were plenty to catch even the best skippers and no two beats were the same, Rob Wilson sailing his trusted Brit Pop was into his stride at the get go and won the first race, with big Tim on the V10 not two yards behind, Race two saw Mick C swop his Boat with Mike W and both learned from the experience, one it takes time to learn a new boats handling traits , and two its very difficult getting a boat to perform when it is taking on at least a cup of water each beat. Boats swopped back and retrimmed the Sedici simply flew for the next two races, and with Jen Hand and the pink lady finding her feet, she had indeed took two seconds in races 2 and 3, bit of a story “hear”,

Mick C along with Tim H were called over at the start of race 5 Tim went back but Mick continued for half the beat before realising that he too had been over, Deaf as a post Mick then changed his hearing aid batteries before the next race. It was great to see that the whole fleet is getting better and better and some good peformancies were seen from Roger Bowtle with his Lintel and Greg Codling with the TNT ( new to sailing this year by the way ) , we all know how frustrating it is when your learning but keep up the good work, Mick Cooper was showng flashes of brilliance off the line but he just needs to calm himself on the downwind (Just relax) get that trim right and it will all come together, just remember you dont need to win every race, this is a series, concentrate on one race at a time. Peter Walters with the Slimtell showed also flashes of speed and brilliance getting a couple of seconds in race 4 and 5, Keith H with his new Sedici must have been pleased as he got better as the morning wore on, justa shame he was sailing the wrong boat in the last race and only found the error of his ways when he realized his boat would not turn at the gate,

Many thanks to Mike W who took over the scoring after race 4, and Tim H who set our course , it was all a bit frantic at times but all in all a fantastic mornings racing in superb conditions, one or two lessons to be learned here, My greatest thanks to Roger Bowtle who left home at 0630 hrs to repair our mower before racing started, I have to say the club has got some fantastic members and I am grateful for that and all they do for the club. Very well done to Rob Wilson BP 97 who took the overall win, and all who helped to some degree in making it all work.

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Write up from Alan Newman , many thanks Alan

Nine Skippers turned out for this ‘social racing’ event on a pleasant, if crisp sunny morning but what a ‘blow’ (windwise that is !) coming almost straight down the lake from the NNE road-end of the lake. Most skippers starting the event with C Rig and the Dragons performed brilliantly, Skips permitting !!

Volunteer OOD Jenny set a ziz-zag course from the club-house end of the lake, which gave good scope, separation for different approaches to the weather mark and a VERY lively run back towards the club-house end finish !

Although winds stayed strong throughout the morning they eased sufficiently midway allowing a change to B rigs and these great little boats continued to provide highly competitive racing for the remainder of the morning. Keith Holmes won, his domination of the event amply demonstrated by his 2 discards being a 3rd and 4th !!!. Oh to dream of having such racing skills as him or Pete W and OOD Jen H who both sailed consistently for well deserved 2nd and 3rd spots respectively. Further down the tables, racing was close but fun with the lake ‘behaving well’ and few skippers experiencing ‘dreaded weed’ although deploying the safety boat to retrieve a casualty from a distant buoy stirred things up slightly for a short time. Had you been close enough you would have heard the ‘editor’ of these notes cursing quietly when, approaching a tight close finish, his boat hit weed refusing to turn before travelling the wrong side of the line and thus losing a place!

Anyway, all in all a pleasant morning, thanks to Jenny as OOD, for the good sailing spirit and here’s to the next one !

(N.B The only minor issue of the day,( for which please excuse this gentle reminder) is the current need to maintain ‘covid social distancing’ during racing for which bank-side poles are placed. Please observe a 2-way traffic system round them staying waterside on first beat, and return on outside of bank poles. Thanks to all for the good humour when occasional reminders were needed. See you for the next Dragon event !!!

All Pictures many thanks Sue Brown , Currently in Loch Ness ,, beware the Monster

Just to advise you that the Clive Hand Memorial Trophy planned for October 4th has been Postponed, possibly until the spring of 2021 .

We shall of course keep you posted.

A good day at the lake, warm a north Easterly breeze around 8/10 knots, slightly chilly to stat but when the sun came out it was nice and warm and jackets came off. A new rule for the club was that face masks must be worn when racing and in the control area, this to try and protect all at the club and i am pleased to say it was backed 100 % well done everybody.

We were missing some skippers, but 9 turned up and were not dissapointed in the quality of racing, tip for the day was to have a check list when you put your gear in the car , a fin and bulb tend to work well in most conditions, say no more, It was a good two beats, a run, and a short beat to the finish, it was almost straight up and down the east bank, Jen Hand got things started prompt at 0950 hrs with the briefing, and the first race started bang on time Mick Chamberlain was so keen he forgot to turn on the electrics so was out of contention in the first race that was won by Dave Rigby with the Vision, Jen second and the returning Chris E third. Race two and Mick C took the win, te wind being very shifty both on the beat and the run caught a few out Dave R got second and Pete W third, Mick won the third race, with Jen taking second and Dave R third, racing was very nip and tuck between most of the fleet and must have been quite exciting to watch, Mike W did our scoring for us and we are very grateful for that.

Race four had Peter C taking top spot and Chris E after a couple brushes with salad in the previous two races took second, Mick C took third and was dissapointed not to win it after leading for 90 % of the race, As you can see from the results below it was good racing, and everyone enjoyed the morning, After a bad start Mick C to the honours on the day,

Many thanks to all the skippers who helped get stuff ready and also put it away, Behavior at the lake was impeccable, just one little incident at the weather mark !!!!! that raised a few eyebrows, just joking . well done all.

Nice to see 8 different designs on show.