Greetings,
Yesterday was another wonderful days sailing, and the prevailing mood of the day was humour. Everyone took the day in good humour and I often wished I could record all comments during sailing, it would be a hit on TV. Jim Paterson and Mike Inns were our race committee and they did everything professionally, even to washing the cups and sorting out the rubbish.
Our course was a 2 lap triangle with the 2nd lap extending down further to make a longish beat to the finish. I liked the course, however, well into racing the wind dropped dramatically and Jim shortened the course by moving the marks in closer. Our fleet start was the 1, 2, 3 system, whereby the fleet was split into 3 and each group started 50 seconds apart while our computer calculated great mathematical equations instantly and produced the attached results. I am intrigued by the Racing Rules of Sailing as you well know, and yesterday on a reach, somehow there was contact in a large group close in front of me, instantly boats were turned at right angles to our direction, causing a second contact with more boats unable to avoid and further chaos and loud protestations, however by skilful helm manipulation, that excellent boat, J 146, blithely bore away and sailed around the carnage harbouring wicked thoughts of “tsk, tsk, what a great way to climb up the ladder, especially as J 276 was trapped, tsk, tsk”. Of course, being a RRS adherent, I would have protested the boat responsible for this carnage but as the saying goes, “It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good” plus I didn’t know who was responsible, plus I had picked up half a dozen places, so my mouth was sealed.
Congratulations to our podium finishers, Polly (as usual), Chris Stricker (who’s boat was going very fast), and Derek ( who’s boat was also fast). While we are on the subject of humour of the day and Derek, prior to one of the starts, some sailors were talking generally about rules and protests with Derek and he proclaimed that he should be exempt from being protested because he provided free sandwiches to the club ( remember those delicious treats on our 125th anniversary day). You can imagine the response that statement got.