by Adam Hilton
Teatime Tankard 1
On arrival at the Lake the water displayed a few ripples caused by little puffs of wind from the southeast. Leila Farmer, Officer of the Day, therefore set a course starting towards the Dam. However, shortly before the 2pm start, the wind turned round and began blowing with fair consistency of strength but little of direction from various points around the northwest. The course was changed to make West White the first buoy.
Roger Heasman, with Rick Thurlow as crew, was first over the start line with Dave Perrett in his Solo second. Both these boats started on starboard tack at the leeward end of the line. It proved to be a less advantageous strategy than starting on port tack from the pontoon end of the line. Adam Hilton (Solo) and John Dabbs, Rob Spiller crewing the Bosun, started on port and were the first two competitors to reach West White. Linda Spiller (Laser Radial) lost her kicker just before the start and therefore began the race nearly ten minutes late; her run through the field to fourth place on the water was impressive.
Adam Hilton’s Solo, in clean air, pulled out a substantial lead, seven minutes after the three laps. Behind it a battle royal between John Dabbs and Ian Chatterton, sailing his Enterprise solo who was just ahead at the end of the first lap. They changed places several times in the course of the race despite Ian Chatterton’s brief capsize at Pinkie forcing him to bail furiously all the way back up the Lake. They were still exchanging places at Dam Green just before the finish, the Bosun ending ahead.
- Adam Hilton (Solo)
- John Dabbs and Robin Spiller (Bosun)
- Ian Chatterton (Enterprise)
- Linda Spiller (Laser Radial)
- Roger Heasman and Rick Thurlow (Bosun)
- Dave Perrett (Solo )
- Colin and Louise Witchell (Bosun)
Teatime Plate 4
Five boats started the second race. Leila Farmer was replaced as OOD by Rick Thurlow and helmed the Dabbs Bosun. Rob Spiller moved to crewing for Roger Heasman who got away first but had been overtaken by the flying Spiller Laser Radial by the time they rounded West White. She was not to be headed again and finished with a four minute lead. The Heasman Bosun followed throughout but the helm had unfortunately forgotten the need to leave Home 1 to starboard and was disqualified. The Farmer/Dabbs Bosun came next until overtaken by Ian Chatterton’s Enterprise on lap 3. Dave Perrett had trouble getting his Solo rigged and started the race at the back, gradually hauling himself up until he was only a handful of seconds behind at the end.
- Linda Spiller (Laser Radial)
- Leila Farmer and John Dabbs (Bosun)
- Ian Chatterton (Enterprise)
- Dave Perrett (Solo)
Disqualified: Roger Heasman and Robin Spiller (Bosun)
Many thanks were given to Leila Farmer and Rick Thurlow, Officers of the Day.