A dry, sunny, windless Sunday afternoon with an Easterly wind blowing 4 but increasing to 6 Knots for short bursts. Because of the lack of wind and its direction it was decided to change from a “B” Course to a short “A”. The course was laid by Enoch and Andy in the safety boat, with a “Zoffany House” start line and buoys upstream of the Bell and Crown and at the upstream end of the PLA grid.
Amazingly, 11 Boats assembled on the foreshore, just like the old days.
4 Enterprises, Zephyr (James and Ruth), Porpoise (Lev and David), Big Polly (Henry and Mary), Ixion (Tim W and crew), and one Leader – Distant Thunder (Chris and crew) .
2 Lasers, Phoebe (Rob) and Envy (Ben).
Together with the little boats, Ait Knots (Tim Y), Pacman (Jane), Tonic (Leona) and the delightful tan sails of Eeyore (Nick with 3 crew).
The start line was crowded and confused with the lack of wind giving minimal control. The whistle was blown and the flags were dropped at 13-00. James quickly found the wind and sped away closely followed by Rob. Others were slow off the mark with some getting caught in the vegetation growing in the river close to the towpath and others struggled with the tide and the lack of wind.
James and Rob made the 1st lap in 5.56 and 7.04 respectively. The other Enterprises and Ben’s Laser followed 12-14mins after for the 1st lap. 1st lap for the little boats was – Tim Y in 23.26, Jane and Leona 40.10 and 40.12 respectively. Eeyore struggled to stay over the start line for most of the race, which was expected with such light winds and eventually retired.
James continued to lap at about 6-7 mins until he finished after 9 laps in 61.27. During the race Lev and Henry were very close for the first 3 laps, but Lev eventually lapped Henry and they finished together on 8 laps and 7 laps in 66.46 and 66.05. Chris (Leader) and Tim W in his Enterprise finished in a similar time to Lev and Henry, 66.57 and 67.08, completing 6 and 4 laps respectively.
Rob and Ben in their Lasers completed 7 laps in 64.29 and 6 laps 68.58 resp.
Tim Y finished 4 laps in 67.56, Leona 2 laps in 72.15 and Jane 1 lap 40.10.
A difficult day for the little boats but a fine sunny afternoon and a brilliant turn out.
Thanks to Enoch and Andy on the safety boat.
OOD John Bull
