We turned up to what looked like a very promising day after some indifferent weather earlier in the week.  A nice steady westerly promised good sailing.  14 boats were readied for the day’s sailing, with one ardent “helper” – Steve Crewes as well.  We welcomed Tony Platt back after a prolonged absence – good to see him return to sailing.  David Moont turned up late in the day to enjoy the sunshine.

The air was cold, but the deck was bathed in sunshine, so jackets came off really quickly.

We set the marks for the westerly, and C sails were the go, but then things began to change.  The wind had started swinging NW to SW, so additional marks were put out with us trying to guess the direction.  As it happened, we steadily lost the wind through the afternoon, and had to have a break from sailing, before it returned a little, with us ending the day after 8 races all on A sails.

As you can guess, it was a challenging day for everyone.

We sailed with Race Officers, so it was relatively clean sailing, with top mark congestion still being a problem.  I want to thank all those who volunteered or were press ganged into doing the RO’s job – it really helps, and is a good education as well.  Thanks everyone for your help.

It was a relatively trouble-free day – I don’t recall boats being out of the water for too long during the day.  We only had a few hookups and “knitting” on the marks.

When you look at the scores, you can see how consistency pays off.  Mister Consistency, Peter Close had only one 1; Phil Stevenson had two, and Graham Brown had three; but that was the order of their results.  There is a lesson there.  The next group from 4 to 9 had an interesting battle through the day, and there was not too much between them in the end.  Places from 10 to 14 had various tales of woe which unfortunately reflected in their scores.

On the day, Peter Close 1; Phil Stevenson 2 and Graham Brown 3.  Well sailed.

Next week will be our monthly handicap sailing – I’m anticipating the return of some of you who have been away on holidays.

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