Well another excellent day for sailing today. The cool start and forecast of a possible shower might have put a few off, but they should have come.

Race Officer Nick Richardson and Barry Bissell got landed with the most difficult format of all, the A,B,C start. It seemed they had not read the instruction manual very well as they were quite nervous about it and hesitant about getting the day’s racing going.

Luckily the Lakeside Programme is well designed for such situations and with a bit of help from other members they were soon under way. The course was quite a long trapezoid, to take advantage of a nicely building easterly, one that has deserted us quite a bit during the latter part of the season.

2 laps, with the fleet being groups A and B only, but changing from heat to heat. You had to listen to Nick’s booming announcement (obviously he has classroom experience), to find if you were in B Fleet which started from scratch, or A Fleet, starting from 60 seconds. This was managed pretty well except when Derek went to the loo and missed  his call and started in the wrong fleet.

The end of Ramadan Muslim festival Eid was getting under way nearby so we had a steady stream of visitors from  there marvelling at our skill and expertise. Nick’s dog George was unbelievably excited for the whole time but managed to keep well out of our way.

Congratulations to Derek, Bryan and Glen for podium places. Thanks again to RO Nick and RA Barry for another great day, with delicious biscuits to go with our tea and coffee.