The previous days gales had passed, thank goodness , but the forecasted breeze was missing when OOD Mike W came to try and set a course , however 8 skippers had arrived and the game was on, racing started on the East Bank , and even before racing started it was going to be a no no for Mick C 46 as a twitchy winch had a mind of its own , luckily he had a spare winch and changed but it cost him two races. Pete W 678 took full advantage and took the first two races , with Colin H 301 in hot pursuit, Mike W 76 and Mick Cooper 39 taking the third respectively. The wind was very light and with a new winch fitted Mick C 46 showed good speed to take the win , Cooperman 39 and Mike w 76 getting great results in second and third. Same deal for race 4 and Jen H 69 who was having a quiet day manage to get second spot, with Mike W 76 keeping his consistency going with a good third spot. Coffee loomed and thanks to Dave C 537 a few mince pies were on offer , it was at this time we decided to switch to the South Bank, And Pete W 678 continued his winning ways with three straight wins, very impressive , the breeze had filled in somewhat and the racing was excellent, Colin T 431 and Dave C 537 having their own private battles. All in all this was a good days for racing , the rain held off in the main and everybody enjoyed the morning, we will all look back and think where we could have done a bit better, in some races, and some of us will have gone home with a great big smile on our face, just before he sorted the results for us , Well done Colin H 301 a very good showing, Close racing it certainly was , not the best turnout by a long way, but hey ho , Many thanks to Mike W the OOD and many thanks to everyone for mucking in and getting stuff put away, Pete W well done for the win .

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 .