Some people might have described today as a bit changable - cloud, rain and bright, bright sunshine all made an appearance. One thing that was there all the time, was solid, huge, great slabs of breeze!! Yes - for the fourth weekend in a row, Datchet served up an absolute stonker of a race day!! When we rigged up, it was 18mph gusting 23 - by the time we raced it was 24 gusting 35 and all in startling, stunning sunshine - oh, what a day....And our water seemed so clear and clean. Heaven knows where Thames got it from, but it made seriously bright, white spray. Lots of it....
The Club was deserted actually - just loads of nomadic windsurfers in their motorhomes with that distant look in their eyes. And us - slightly mad looking to them, I imagine. The results sheet (click on "Last Sunday's Results") is hilarious - a Contender, a Laser ... and the Datchet Flying Fifteens. We had seven boats rig... I don't think John Basford made it to the line in the end. Pity - he would have had a blast! The Admiral and the VC also decided they were too young to die, and stayed ashore. Who else missed a treat?? - Andy and Nadia, The Humes, The Stensons (just right for them) and Midnight Rog. We have noted all you duvet-huggers!!
For the first time in two years, we got our special (flatter) spinnaker-for-honkers out. An amazingly good "Apthorp" rigging tactic. It was brilliant!
The PRO, Mike Clapp, set us a superb FFing course. A tough, grade 1 accurate beat, with three sail and two sail reaching and just glorious boat power on all legs. Race one blasted out of the gate, and the fleet shot up that first beat. It was quite a haul, I must say. John and Helen pulled out all the stops and, I feel, sailed really superbly. They chugged away leaving Richard and Howard then Mark and Tony in their wake. The first reach was really full on - blood curdling power, and spray a major hazard. Bit wet up front I thought. Probably....
At the wing mark we slung the boats around, but the next leg was best served as a howling two sail reach. The sort that takes your breath away,... if you have any left. The next beat saw Mark/Tony nudge in front of Howard/Richard - not much in it actually. Then the run saw John and Helen take the honest course - Mark/Tony and Howard/Richard slipping out to the right looking for the gusts. Well, the gusts set in from the left, didn't they, seeing John and Helen surge away. I think it was at the wing mark this last time that Mark and Tony did a keel inspection!! Much (sympathetic) laughter aboard 3934, who also promptly fell in. Anyway - "if we'd only dropped before the mark, we'd have had 'em..." - etc etc. Once we had all recovered we tore off on reach two which had become a terrific two-sailer. John and Helen were sporting their brand new Selden Epsilon which has absolutely no scratches on it plus, to Helen's delight, it says "Selden" in big letters down each side to remind her of who she is on the reaches. It wont be as stiff a mast now as it was yesterday... And that's the way it stayed through to a storming finish line (we end on reaches), making I imagine an amazing sight aboard the committee boat. I can't actually say how the places for 4th, 5th, 6th were settled. Too much spray on my glasses.
Aboard our boat, we both pulled back muscles in race one, so were pretty tender for Race 2 .... and then the breeze stepped up.... Mervyn and James had popped ashore to replace spinnaker sheets which were losing their sleeving in the pressure. We zipped out of the gate in nice bunch - Howard and Richard tacked off to the right. A disaster leaving them with loads to do. At the top mark, it was 3860 around first, John and Helen right on their heels, and then a right old mularkey - in a Force six we had a nested port Starboard sequence of three boats on the mark, with Steve and Simon pushing over Howard and Richard and they in turn bearing down on The Millars - pushing them onto the mark. Just picture the three boats with as much power as they could handle and about 6 inches apart! Storming stuff - I'm told by Mervyn, laughing as he did so, that Andy and Bob caught the mark with their spinnaker sheet and moored up - possibly with a Force 6 gybe in there.... Howard and Richard surged out under Steve and Simon's bow - and that was that settled. Spinnakers up and we were off down the wild surf ride of reach one. Well, with all that going on, 3860 and 3536 were well away. We all tried pretty hard to catch up but Mark and Tony really showed what 40 person-years less in crew-age can do on a day like that! They sailed superbly. At the last rounding of the leeward mark, all three boats were actually quite close up together - maybe three or four boat lengths between each of the first three places. Howard/Richard held tightly in the box, tacked away - and the rest of the fleet did very nicely thank you up the right hand shore. However, the placings were held though and we set out on the final reach - 3934 in all sorts of disarray sailing flat out with the windward spinnaker sheet tight around the main boom end after the gybe ready to garrott the team. Mark and Tony got it this time, from John and Helen, then Howard and Richard and heavy breeze specialists, Mervyn and James in fourth.
A good day.
