Datchet Race Report, Sunday August 14th - Fickle, Fickle, Fickle!!...

Considering it's holiday season, we had a great turnout today - 9 teams competing!! Even the VC was back aboard The Admiral's Barge after a long absence - and seemed to be pretty clued up as to what the fluffy sail was for!! In fact, Mike said they passed someone on every single downwind leg of today's racing and it was superb spinnaker work wot did it !! Quite right, but I was told in the Bar afterwards that it was the same boat that they passed on every leg - ha ha ha !!!

Well - it was really quite an attractive day. Thirteen Wayfarers were having an Open Meeting and that all looked very good. Won by a team from my old Club at Medway I'm told. We had 10 knots of westerly breeze, but it was shifty and picky as can be. And the undoing of many.....

Race one got away with a pretty strong pin end bias, with many of our number plumbing for the Committee Boat end - but it was one of those days where the swings were so big it might have been committee boat when you tested it!! Best start at the pin was a closely contested affair between Steve and Simon (sailing excellently today) and Howard and Richard. The fleet picked it's way up the middle trying to figure out the best path. At the top mark, Mark and Vice Cap'n Hanson took the lead by two boat lengths from Howard and Richard and with Steve and Simon in third. The fleet was already a bit strung out in the fickleness of breeze. Within about 80 yards, Howard and the big black spinnaker had munched past Mark and John, and pulled out maybe three or four boat lengths of lead. No obvious shouting aboard 3860 to their credit !!! It stayed like this until the second beat - Howard and Richard took to the middle, and Mark and John just 100 yards to the right, and with the rest of the fleet (!) roared past!! Howard and Richard found themselves about 5th and out of the game. Mark never lets a chance like that go and popped off into the distance as usual !! At least when Tony's in the boat, it goes a little bit slower...!! To be honest , I'm not sure of the placings and timings for the finish (I couldn't see that far ahead) - you'll have to check the "Last Sunday's Results" button on the Right Hand Side of this webpage.

For Race Two the line was a good bit squarer - Steve and Simon made another tip-top pin end start, closely followed by the Admiral/VC and Howard/Richard on Starboard and right in the groove. Howard and Richard split tacks and well ..... went all pear shaped again somehow. HQ is at a loss to explain where that beat went, but they popped out at mark one in about seventh. Mark and John looked well away with it but there were some excellent performances in the pack. I've mentioned Steve and Simon, but The Stensons sporting a Hayling number 60 on the bow (average age in the boat?!!) were having a really good day. Roger and Tony also were ahead of both The Admiral and Howard/Richard at various times and their boat looked in good shape going upwind today. Mervyn and Callum (he of the gashed head!) were also right on the money in Race Two - so some very pleasing performances to be seen today (3934 excluded!!).

It's Helen Selden's birthday this week. Twenty Fifth, I'd say ! Next time you see Helen, just raise your eyebrows and snigger slightly when you say, "Good Morning!" !!!