Midweek Mug 4
In the morning the sun shone, the wind blew, boats were returned to the smart new boat park and work progressed on the pontoon. At lunch time the sun shone and the wind blew but by race time, although the sun remained steadfast, the wind became fickle, coming and going from various points east. Three familiar Bosuns took to the water but their crew combinations were new. The club’s Rob Eason was helmed by Cilla Gilbert and crewed by Sally Wills. Brian Pollard steered his own with Roger Heasman as crew and the Commodore’s boat had Paul Whybrow at the helm with John Dabbs as crew. Linda Spiller’s Radial and Adam Hilton’s Solo completed the fleet.
Linda crossed the line first, with Adam following, Paul next and Brian after him. The single- handers went ahead on the way to Inlet and across to west, but before they got to Pinkie the wind dropped and the extra three square metres of sail on the Solo became more important than its ten kilogram weight penalty and it squeezed ahead before the buoy. The following Bosuns came up fast. On the long beat back up the Lake Linda judged her tacks better and was ahead again at Dam Green, which she touched. The resultant penalty turn let the Solo ahead again. Linda got the lead back by the end of the lap. Much the same pattern repeated on laps three and four and Linda crossed the finish line thirteen seconds ahead. The Whybrow/Dabbs Bosun played similar games with the Pollard/Heasman boat. Brian got ahead for a bit on both laps one and two but Paul was always ahead at the lap ends. He finished half a minute up with water swishing round his ankles in a leaky Commodore Bosun.
- Adam Hilton (Solo)
- Linda Spiller (Laser Radial)
- Paul Whybrow and John Dabbs (Bosun)
- Brian Pollard and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
Retired: Cilla Gilbert and Sally Wills (Bosun)
Many thanks to Nicky Buckett who ran the race and to Robin Spiller  who took the photos.