Frankly there was naff all wind about, and then I was without my boat and so Peter Curtis kindly lent me his RS300. Unfortunately I've only sailed it in breeze, and I spent the first two laps of the race desperately trying and failing to work out how to get the sail to set and the daggerboard to stay where I wanted it... That led to some comedy moments, such as the one where, having taken the daggerboard out on the run to work out how to rig it better I couldn't get it back in again and I found myself doing an entirely unnecessary 360 degree turn!

As for the rest of the race for the rest of the fleet: well I was kinda preoccupied, and by the time I got the board in the right place and the mainsail in some vague approximation of a shape that wanted to go upwind most were a long way away. I then sailed up to a ferocious battle which seemed to be involving about 5 Solos, the Byte, at least one Vareo and probably Uncle Tom Cobley as well... It hardly seemed good manners to go bashing through that lot at that stage in the race, so I tried to keep clear: it was quite a battle, I could see that, but I also think there should perhaps have been a few more penalty turns being done... Slapped wrists...

The race results are here, series results too if you scroll up the page... That Gareth Griffiths won the race in a Solo is probably not a suprise bearing in mind the weather, but managing to do so with the lowest *elapsed* time was definitely taking the mickey! Predictably it was something of Solo day with Quentin Andrews taking 2nd and Paul Playle 3rd, both also in Solos. Julie Harrison took 4th in an RS200, John Magrath 5th in a Laser, and Paul Wright Anderson 6th in his Rooster whatsit... The personal handicap was even more of a Solo benefit... In order David Clark, Quentin Andrews, Clare Overstall, Paul Playle, Gareth Griffiths and John Magrath and Chris Smith with only Clares' RS200 and John's Laser Solo clean sweep of the top 6 (and another 3 Solos in the top 10!).
 

Of course we have now completed 4 of the 5 races in the Anniversary series, so series places are firming up... It will be 3 races to count, and in the scratch series Gareth G has three wins, so he can clear a spot on the mantlepiece...  I'm pretty sure Quentin Andrews is uncatchable for second too. Thereafter, well any number of people can grab third. The personal series is wrapped up just as thoroughly: David Clark has three wins and at the moment a "win" as OOD average points for his 4th result... I think Quentin Andrews has another second place wrapped up for this one too. Third place: well, its really anyones game. Mervyn Cinnamond is third now, but thereafter: well I reckon everyone up to 10th place can snatch third, but you'll notice that includes about half of the Solo fleet: the work they've been putting in on class coaching seems to be paying off. Speaking of OOD points I haven't got the duty team down for August or this Month's results: please will you put comments to this message to let me know who needs the average points.

Dull, warm, not much breeze. Not very dramatic I suppose, but maybe I'd think differently if I had a Solo... The wind was going up and down in patches, and dropped to what probably counted as F0 for the fast start... Not good for timing your run to the start line, but it gets even more difficult if a certain successful Solo sailor parks his boat in front of you when you are already thinking you might have left it a bit late. Name omitted to protect the guilty... And then the breeze got up again (well, in relative terms anyway) for the slow start, and came in from an odd direction to such an extent that the leading Solos had overtaken some of the "fast" fleet starters by the windward mark...

It was that sort of race really, a lot of parking lots, a lot of holes in the wind, a lot of compression gusts on the downwind legs... Its difficult to think of much to write about it to be honest... I guess it summed up the race for the rest of us that as soon as the first 3 or 4, which in any case included the first Solo, crossed the line the wind promptly picked up to the best it had been all morning to bring the slower boats across in double time eliminating any chance of faster boats saving their time on those behind...

Still no complaints: I benefited from a weather and race situation that benefited me the other Wednesday so what goes around comes around. Anyway Gareth Griffiths won, and the entire top 6 was filled with Solos, the rest, in order, being David Lawton, Quentin Andrews, Mervyn Cinnamond, Peter Cottrell and Cj Cavallari. The only thing stopping a complete clean sweep by the Solos was that Caroline Baldwin's Byte tied for 7th with the last Solo... Personal Handicap results featured many of the same names: David Clark won, from Caroline Baldwin (Byte and the only non-Solo in the top 6) then David Lawton, Quentin Andrews, Mervyn Cinnamond and Peter Cottrell.

Full results are here.

Later in the day I was luffed by a Solo on the run when sailing the Canoe... I have no objection to this, I can appreciate the desire to protect one's wind and discourage faster boats covering you to windward while overtaking. I also believe that in general "gentlemen pass to leeward", but the run is a special case... If you are in a boat that sails dead downwind on a run then I suggest the last thing you want is for a faster boat which sails hotter angles to overtake you to leeward, because as soon as they establish an overlap they are entitled to sail their proper course and come up to whatever angle they need to sail to get to the mark fastest. And that might take you a long distance out of your way and lose you a lot more ground than you would have done had they gone past to windward: I've sailed boats that in light airs are best sailed 45 degrees higher than a dead run... So on a run it's in both parties advantage for a faster boat which sails angles to overtake on the windward side, because the deep running boat will not be diverted from their desired course and will get the minimum amount of disruption.

Oh yes, Gareth mentioned last week's cycle race from the point of view of not having gone to the club. I went, and I think its worth commenting. Now from what I understand traffic in London was nightmarish, and locked up solid, but I took the M25/A3/Cobham Junction/Seven Hills Road/Hersham roundabout route up to the club, leaving about half an hour earlier than normal and the traffic was very light: I certainly arrived at the club earlier than normal.  I believe the traffic - mainly in cycles - was pretty thick round Box Hill and Dorking, but for the rest there seems no especial reason why we need to close the club for the main event next year: I'm not sure huge numbers of people will drive into Surrey to see a tight pack of cycles hurtle past in 10 seconds flat... The time trial even on Wednesday 1st August, however, which will come much closer and round three sides of the club might be another problem. Having found the schedule the men's event, which would have been the greater problem, is scheduled to finish at 11:30 am, so its route shouldn't bother us. The Women's time trial is scheduled to finish at Hampton Court at 4:15 pm and they'll be coming up from Cobham on the old A3, into Kingston, right past Thames SC's gate I reckon, and then through Kingston and back to Hampton Court. Its hard to believe that any traffic is going to be moving round Kingston for two hours after the finish. In theory our club ought to be accessible, gridlock permitting, but I reckon Thames might as well just erect a grandstand on their carpark and sell drinks to the public rather than plan any sailing...

Not the biggest of turnouts and not the most encouraging of weather forecasts: the two being doubtless connected. The course. There were seven marks in it. It was complicated. It had all sorts of different legs. I don't propose to describe it here. The first boats set off in a good F4, the Toppers going first, followed by Fevas and Laser 4.7. James Curtis' Feva and Tom Howards's 4.7 started level and were to have a notable battle right through the race. Alistair Smith led for the first lap, but was overtaken by Nancy Scott on lap two.

Just three Solos started, and Gareth led them round the track, although Paul Playle finished building his new Solo in time for the second lap and shadowed Gareth closely without actually interfering with the racing. From what I hear it was close enough for him to be very pleased with the first sail. Mike Curtis got his Laser out for the first time in a couple of years without having to evict much more than spiders or earwigs - nothing had eaten the sail, and he led a good bunch of Lasers round the track.

Last to start, just after the leading Toppers went through to finish their first lap, were Carl Mayhew's RS600 and your scribes Canoe, both metaphorically licking their lips at the thought of a long shy reach towards the end of the lap which looked a very good bet for the singlehanders to really fly. They had changed places at least couple of times by the time they got to said reach, at which point the wind dropped. The wind was diminishing, and the rest of the race was in less wind than the first 45 minutes, but we *never* got a decent gust on that leg for the whole race. Most dischuffed.

With about twenty minutes to go James Curtis and Harry Phelps caught the last Topper, but Gareth Griffiths was getting extremely close in his Solo, which was very much a weapon of choice in the current conditions. However a big and viciously raining cloud came over in the last lap, and the extra wind was just what the Feva needed to assist them in keeping their nerve and taking an excellent and thoroughly deserved win. Mike Curtis had also made good use of the breeze to bring his Laser through to third place, just ahead of Tom Howard's 4.7 in 4th. Carl Mayhew took the 600 through to 5th, with Peter Curtis 6th in the 300 and Nancy Scott taking 7th place in the first of the Toppers. In all U18s took 4 of the top ten places: very encouraging for the future:-)

Full results here

OK, so that was the race. Next up was a spectacular spread for lunch, barbecue and so on, and then the fun day... It really is a "you have to be there" event, but much water was distributed, (and even the clouds joined in in the middle) much noise was made, and some of the U18s got to have a go in some of the faster boats...

A great turnout of 30 boats on a fairly windy day - not so much wind it put people off but towards the top of many people's comfort zone - in other words a great sailing wind. The wind was North West-ish - the ish was the problem everyone faced. The first leg was a beat from 3 to 9 which with the northwesterly got more and more shifty the closer you got to 9 with the clubhouse and bank giving some very odd wind lanes. Everyone I spoke to (me included) found that beat really hard to read. If anyone got it right every lap I didn't find them.   Over heard in the clubhouse "I couldn't figure it out so I went up the middle and got overtaken by boats going left and boats going right." It was however a leg on which large gains could be made as the shifts and bends were large.

The fleet should have split into 17 for the 'fast' start and 13 for the 'slow' start which suggests we have the split about right with the lasers in the fast group. Unfortunately despite there being a whiteboard reminder several lasers did not start with the fast group, most realising after a while but I think some not going until the slow start.

From the fast start the Richard Barker in his Phantom showed the way up the first leg arriving at the windward mark in the lead and ending up second on handicap. After a while the usual suspects in the fast fleet pulled away from the pack, Peter Curtis in the RS300, Richard in the Phantom and Charlotte Savage in an RS200. Meawhile back at the slow end Gareth forged away from the from the start quickly catching the Xenon and the back of the lasers but then got bogged down trying to work through the mid laser fleet, while James Curtis showed that with some wind the Feva is a lot quicker than you might think finishing only one second behind the second Solo.

We keep debating the relative handicaps of different classes but with the first six boats coming from different classes I think things can't be too far wrong. (RS300, Phantom, Solo, RS200, Feva and Laser). In the personal handicaps though it was more of a laser day with the top three of the top four places going to the lasers of Brian Greenaway(2) , Roger Stafford(3), and John Smith(4) but the winner and star of the day was James in the Feva - fifth overall from band three looks like someone heading for promotion.

Full results are here. Thanks very much to Gareth Griffiths for this first report, and now a bonus second report from Peter Curtis.

The May Anniversary series race saw a bumper turnout of boats on a pleasantly breezy typically spring day. Race officer Mike Storey set a longish course for the WNW breeze that was more shifty in reality than it seemed from the shore. With 30 or so boats squeezed into two starts there was a premium on getting into the front rank at the line. Tom and Abi Winskell (RS200) arrived after the 2 minute gun, and without any knowledge of the time chose to sit just underneath your correspondent and trust his positioning. In doing so they gently pushed me over the line and got the perfect start themselves! Charlotte Savage and Mike (RS200), in their first race at IBRSC since the winter series, also got an excellent start, and Graham Potter/Helen Gerald (Albacore) appeared to be bang on the line. Unfortunately he was just a trifle over, and was informed of this half way up the first beat.

Early front runners up the beat were Charlotte Savage and Richard Barker in his Phantom. Having been able to swiftly return over the line I managed to make up ground in my RS300 and round the first mark third. The course then gave a good spinnaker reach followed by a shortish beat, a long run and fine reach. A good overall workout, albeit with one slightly awkward crossing point. In the slow fleet Gareth Griffiths (Solo) was leading the way, but James Curtis/Harry Phelps (RS Feva) were showing that the practice they had put in over the winter was starting to pay dividends. They finally finished just a second behind the second Solo and beat seven of them on the water despite being 47 points slower on handicap.

Back in the fast fleet the Phantom and RS300 managed to inch past the RS200 on the second long beat and then started a big battle for the overall lead. The RS300 finally got past on a port/starboard crossing on a beat having tried to go past both to windward and leeward on the reach.

A slight easing of the wind with a bit of veer to the North seemed to favour the single handers, and certainly allowed me to rapidly build a lead over Richard in the Phantom and Charlotte in the RS200. Having a long course, the race officer was able to shorten a number of the slower boats to two laps just as they were about to be lapped, which showed remarkable judgement on his part (although he might have just got lucky).

Overall scratch fleet results showed me getting the win, despite taking a lap and a half to get past Richard Barker, who took second. Gareth took third, Charlotte and Mike fourth and James and Harry fifth.

The two back to back races were also well attended, with the wind slightly stronger if anything. In the first Charlotte again demonstrated excellent starting technique and great upwind speed to be first at the first mark. Gareth obviously had a tremendous start as he was third at the first mark, ahead of Tom and Abi and a number of others who would normally expect not to be behind a Solo. The wind developed a number of holes which certainly affected me after I had managed to get into the lead and had the sensation of everybody rushing up from behind in a big gust two laps running (grumble, grumble). Charlotte took full advantage, with Simon Bean having an excellent race to get second only one second ahead of Tom and Abi, who were only 11s ahead of James and Harry, with Gareth nine seconds further back and me four seconds further adrift. In other words, some really tight racing.

The third race had a surprise in that I finally had a good start and got to the top mark first, and Tom and Abi were usefully ahead of Charlotte and Mike. She then got another of those big gusts (grumble, grumble) and the two 200s proceeded to have an exciting gybing duel in good wind down the run. Charlotte eventually came out on top and then hunted me down for the next two laps. The 200 was faster on the beat and broad reach and the 300 was faster on the run and the fine reach. Having my hands full with my own race I'm afraid I was a bit preoccupied to see what else was happening on the course, although I did notice that three of us at the front had to do a lap of honour, so we were last to finish!

Overall a great day's racing. Many thanks to Mike Storey and team for the courses and keeping track of what was happening on a busy race course.

Peter