Club Racing

As the sailing season gets slowly underway, the regulars are beginning to emerge from hibernation - Nick Johns was out for the first time on Sunday, April 23, as were James and Alison Roberts in a GP 14, adding to the variety of the SSC racing fleet. A first canter too for Tonia and Julia Griffiths in their Graduate, the provocatively named 'Girls on Top'. This season is beginning to see some very close racing with only 90 seconds between the first seven places. Final positions were: Race 1: 1. Alan Lambert (Solo); 2. Tonia and Julia Griffiths (Graduate); 3. Nick Berridge (Laser 2000). Race 2: 1. Nick Berridge; 2. The girls, still not quite on top; 3. Alan Lambert. Sunday, April 30: Previous reports have alluded to a succession of quiet races, so quiet that one crew which shall be nameless, but which was captured on camera, might have nodded off at the start. Light airs promised another dose of the same, so race officer Rolfe John decided to enliven the proceedings with a course taking in the marks at Pendine, Amroth, Monkstone, Harbour in that order. Compasses would have been useful, balls of string even better, but a triumph of the course- setters art, with not just one beat, but two. The more than usually complicated course caused problems with the Williams team. In their surprise at being in the lead, they realised they had not written it down and proceeded to go the wrong way. Fortunately, nobody else followed and with a few applications of the unwinding rule, sanity returned. The two beats played into the hands of experience with Trevor Smith (Graduate) crewed by Sara Boorman coming first on handicap and close to the front of the fleet on the water as well. Alistair Davies (Laser) was second, Alan Lambert (Solo) third, and Nick Berridge (Laser 2000) minus crew, was fourth. As ever, we rely on the unstinting help of our volunteers, in this case the ever-present Anita and Charlie Osborne and Tom Owen in our patrol boats, assisted on this occasion by Brian Gatenby. Many thanks for your efforts.

Future Attractions

Coppet Week will be upon us at the end of the month and this will be followed by the Supernova Championships. These are the major fund-raising events of the year and all hands will be needed on deck to ensure they run smoothly. If you have not already let Paul Griffiths know when you are available to help out then now is a good time to act before all the best seats are snapped up! Press gangs can be just so upsetting for everybody.

Ancient Mariner