by Adam Hilton
Bosuns Blue-Green 1
Blue-green algae were supposed to be rendering the Lake dangerous to humans (although fishermen appeared to be excluded from this category. They sat moodily in the water some meters off the Inlet shore as usual. Perhaps they spent the night with the “diarrhea, nausea or vomiting; skin, eye or throat irritation; and allergic reactions or breathing difficulties†that the internet says you get from exposure to the micro beasts) so the fleet was restricted to safe double handers or Bosuns as we call them. John Dabbs had his out with Leila Farmer. Roger Heasman was sailing with David Perrett. Colin and Louise Witchell were out, Adam Hilton had recruited Geoff Floyd to crew his Bosun and Robin and Linda Spiller took out a Club boat. Very little wind was forecast but more NWN breezes were in fact present, although feeble enough for Sue Murray, the OOD, to cut the laps from four to two.
The Dabbs boat was premature and had to go back over the start line, Roger Heasman judged it better and got away towards Zebra in the lead with the Hilton/Floyd boat following. The beat across to West was fairly brisk but the wind was dropping for the next tacks up to Pinky and really fell away on the long run back to Dam Green which was lead by Hilton/Floyd with, at the buoy, Roger, Robin, and John following with Colin and Louise Witchell struggling to get their Bosun’s sails filled in the ultra light winds. They retired.
Adam Hilton threw away all his lead by messing up the turn at Dam Green and then forgetting to lower the centre plate for most of the tack to Zebra. So Roger Heasman again led with John Dabbs getting ahead of him at Middle and then extending his lead. Roger had slipped to third when an unexpected gust from an unexpected direction caused an involuntary gibe and tossed Roger into the drink (hopefully not drunk). David kept the boat the right way up and sailing, then helped his skipper back aboard. They finished a couple of minutes behind the leaders.
- John Dabbs and Leila Farmer (Bosun),
- Robin and Linda Spiller (Bosun)
- Roger Heasman and David Perrett (Bosun)
- Adam Hilton and Geoff Floyd (Bosun)
Retired: Colin and Louise Witchell (Bosun)
Bosuns Blue-Green 2
Robin Spiller was already over the line when the horn blew and when he had returned, had trouble getting going. John Dabbs and Leila Farmer led the race away and were never headed. The long tacks they took going up to Pinkie perhaps working better than the short ones the following Heasman/ Perret boat took. The Witchell Bosun, now helmed by Louise, started the second lap third but was overtaken by the Spiller boat and then got sucked into the Inlet and becalmed. The Dabbs/Farmer boat triumphed but not soon enough for Leila’s daughter whose lift to her music was late.
- John Dabbs and Leila Farmer (Bosun)
- Robin and Linda Spiller (Bosun)
- Roger Heasman and David Perrett (Bosun)
- Louise and Colin Witchell (Bosun)
Grateful thanks were given to Sue Murray who ran the races.