Open Day

Saturday was the day that the sailing club opened its door to visitors and invited them to a spin round the bay to see if they liked the idea of sailing in small boats. Fortunately, the weather was fine, with lightish winds, so reasonable progress could be made without too many alarms and excursions and there were no reports of seasick passengers wishing to jump overboard and end it all (it happens to us all from time to time.) In all, 22 landlubbers signed in and by all reports enjoyed being sailed round the bay in the club's newly-acquired Wayfarer World. Twenty one of the 22 took away membership application forms so the auguries are favourable. Sail training principal Malcolm Williams asked me to thank all the crews, helpers and parents whose efforts made for such a successful day. Club Racing

Sunday's club racing saw another day of light winds in otherwise glorious weather, but this was the final race of the season's Warm-up Series, so there was a full turnout of all contenders for honours. The final placings were not settled until the end of this race. On the day, the winner was again Alan Lambert (Solo), who managed to avoid falling into the massive wind hole at the top of the beat. This season, it is proving very hard to keep Alan off the leader board, short of putting more lead in his saddlebags. Close contender Paul Griffiths (Laser) was comprehensively becalmed in the same wind hole and could manage only third place. Perhaps Paul had taken seriously the earlier (unsolicited) advice that he should put on more weight to counter an excess of capsizes? Other contenders for series honours were Nick and Govan Berridge (Osprey), but as this week's photo shows, those acres of sail don't do much when there is no wind to drive them. Intruding on this battle for series places, an outsider took second place, demonstrating once again that for racing in light winds you need a Graduate preferably helmed by the experience and cunning of a Trevor Smith. Just how much the final race mattered is shown by the provisional results for the Warm-Up Series: 1. Paul Griffiths (Laser) 10 pts; 2. Nick Berridge (Osprey) 11 pts; 3. Alan Lambert (Solo) 12 pts.

Coppet Week 2007

Our annual regatta starts on Sunday next and there is still room for some of our more 'passive' members to volunteer before they suffer the indignity of being taken by the press gang.

Ancient Mariner