Midweek Mug 2
The sailing club’s day began with a morning working party replacing the fendering on the pontoon. After a substantial amount of talk, some drilling and a pause for lunch, a new sleek section of black fender could be seen attached to the pontoon. More soon.
By 3.45pm the day had become cooler, greyer and windier. Robin Spiller, sitting in as OOD for Linda, set an excellent course which revelled in the lack of fisherfolk; Inlet Red! Far Cornwall! The wind was coming from points around the North East and so a familiar and comfortable start from this side of line 1 was possible and the straight passage to Inlet was less then close hauled. Annie Quartermain, in her first race of the season, slipped her Laser Radial over the line first, followed by the Commodore’s Solo, the Vice-Commodore’s Radial, the Treasurer’s Solo, John Dabbs’ Gull and the Wills/Heasman Bosun. By Inlet Linda Spiller had got away and was never headed. Adam Hilton was past but close to Annie Quartermain. All found the wind at Inlet Red hard to cope with on each lap. It blew harder as the buoy was rounded and then swerved as the helms tried to fill their sails for the beat to West White. Annie’s boat was flipped over and Geof Floyd appeared to have a moment of sailing backwards before also capsizing. The wind continued to strengthen with its usual gusting, backing and vacuums. Boats capable of planing planed. Linda gradually increased her lead, achieving a couple of minutes at the end. The handicap reduced this to a handful of seconds but a victory nonetheless.
Results:
1.      Linda Spiller (Laser Radial)
2.      Adam Hilton (Solo)
3.      Sally Wills and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
4.      John Dabbs(Gull)
Retired: Geof Floyd (Solo), Annie Quartermain (Laser Radial)
Many thanks to Robin Spiller who ran the race single-handed.