by John Dabbs
Teatime Tankard 4
Leila and Rick arrived with a new potential member, Simon. With only 5 sailors
on parade on a dry but windy day, it was agreed that Leila would take Simon
on her Hartley 12, Dave would launch his Solo with a reduced sail, and John
would be supported by Rick as crew on his Bosun sporting a reefed mainsail.
With the wind arriving from the NW in gusts reaching force 4/5 our OOD
(Linda) set a generally clockwise course with a kink in it via Zebra, Home 2,
Middle, West, Pinky and Dam Green.
Leila was first across the line, followed by Dave, then John. All three boats
remained in close company until Dave had the misfortune to touch Dam Green
at the end of Lap 1, so his resultant penalty turn put John in the lead.
Dave managed a capsize on Lap 2 en route to Zebra. Although he remain out
of the water, his Solo was swamped which took some effort and time to
rectify.
Lap 3 put the Bosun well ahead of the other two boats, making good use of the
strengthening wind. The gusts resulted in a couple of hairy gybes for Leila.
Linda took pity on the helms and reduced the race to 3 laps. Leila followed
John to the finish, with Dave soldiering on bring up the rear.
- John Dabbs & Rick Thurlow (Bosun)
- Leila Farmer & Simon Garnham (Hartley 12.2)
- Dave Longfellow (Solo)
Teatime Plate 7
The wind had strengthened somewhat, so Linda simplified the course so it now
went direct from West to Pinky. This removed the direct downwind section
from West to Middle and the gybe at Pinky hadn’t proved much of a challenge
on the previous race.
Dave was away first but, unfortunately he jumped the gun and failed to return
to restart. All three boats arrived together in the vicinity of West, with John
emerging first, followed by Leila.
Dave effectively started the race legally at the end of his first lap, but
unfortunately remained unaware of this in his close competition with Leila on
the water, with his Solo slowly pulling ahead of the Hartley. John continued to
pull ahead of Leila to the end of the race. At the end of his second lap, Dave
retired.
Challenging conditions today, which everyone enjoyed. Well sailed to all.
- John Dabbs & Rick Thurlow (Bosun)
- Leila Farmer & Simon Garnham (Hartley 12.2)
DNF Dave Longfellow (Solo)
Thanks go to Linda for OOD-ing these two races.