The winds were a reasonably steady force 2, but the direction was unusual and very variable! The OD set an excellent windward leg towards buoy 2 from the middle of the lake – at least it was excellent until about 5 seconds before the start gun when it turned into a fetch. Fortunately, half way up the leg, it turned into a beat again. Richard and Philip are still trying to suss out their new RS 400 and for some reason seemed to be tacking all over the place about 10 yards over the start line. Jose and Ginge took an early lead, but were soon overtaken by John and Islay Crosbie in their flying fifteen. Once the boats were within about 50 yards of buoy 2, it was anyone’s guess as to who would get round first or where the wind was coming from. Richard and Philip began to pull away, but seemed to put in twice as many gybes as anyone else on the downwind legs.
Further down the fleet, Tim Knowles was sailing his old boat, with its new owner, Des Wright, in the front. Des has only been sailing for two months, but was given a quick crash course in spinnaker handling and roll tacking. They were rather late over the start line, but were soon making their way through the fleet.
Another new combination was Roy and Michaela in a GP rather than their lark. It turns out that Roy isn’t too keen on a spinnaker pole stored in the boat – Michaela tried to store it in his face! There were also a few toppers out with Sam Hall leading the way. On the last lap, a couple of gentle gusts came through – they registered ‘one shriek’ on the gustometer scale in the front of Ginge’s boat.
After handicaps were calculated, Tim and Des were first with Ginge and Jose second.
Stormy conditions on Saturday afternoon proved to be too much for champions Steve Goacher and Phil Evans to contemplate, so they sat back and watched the rest of the fleet battle around the course. With the wind coming down the lake, the waves had plenty of chance to build up and wash down several spinnaker chutes! Those that did opt to fly kites gained no real advantage. Howard Green, and FF Association Vice President Ian Preston, made best use of their skills and ‘weight advantage’ to win the first race. With no sign of the winds abating, the second race was postponed until Sunday morning.
With the arrival of William’s RS400, there was a lot of encouragement to get on the water and boost the fleet of RSs on the water. But when was he going to make that first move? Bridget couldn’t wait for him to ‘get his knickers wet!’ Would he be in shorts and T shirt? Daughter Emily had been promised the first sail, so everything had to wait until Sunday afternoon when she turned up and nervously got changed. But she did get in the boat, she did reluctantly fly the genniker, she did have to crawl on the foredeck to rerig the genniker after dad had forgotten to tie the ends of the sheets, she did sail the whole race, stayed upright, didn’t win but enjoyed it! Well done!
