Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

Sunday 15th Nov

A more hardcore turnout for sailing this week no doubt mindful of the frankly horrendous wind forecast. As it turned out, conditions were not unreasonable, with 16-20kts of wind gusting to around 26kts, dry and very mild.

Another hard fought Solo race saw Andy Norman taking an early lead and protecting assiduously from all marauders. Gareth Griffiths' amazing speed in the Aero7 continued to win the Handicap race convincingly and Kevin Seebaluck took the Lasers. The back to backs were also closely fought with Peter Curtis suffering a rare capsize in race 1 and some startline "coming togethers" that had Gareth 720ing in race 2 and a few DNFs as conditions took their toll.

Overall "Boss of The Barn" this week was Gareth:

Back on land, a highlight for the twitchers was a rare inland sighting of a Great Skua - a beast of a bird apparently - that resulted in a steady stream of local ornithologists up the reservoir bank throughout the day. 

Second highlight (or possibly not) was Peter Curtis's amazing disappearing trolley, which contrived to slide down the bank and into deep water during the back to back races. Some trawling between the pontoons with a "sweep" (made from rope and chain) between a rescue boat and the bank located the errant trolley which was recovered no worse for wear as was Peter's bank balance. Thanks to Jim for helping the recovery.

Next weekend we welcome the RYA SE Topper Zone Squad to the Club for 2 days of intensive training, and a great opportunity to put the new Training Room to good use.

Finally, make a date for 20th Dec when there will be mulled wine and mince pies after racing to formally open the refurbished Clubhouse, followed by the traditional Children's Santa Party, Sailing School bowling and a Sailing School curry evening to finish...a busy day.