Pride of place this week must go to Hywel Jackson (pictured) who recently won the Welsh area qualifying heat and last weekend travelled down to Southampton Boat Show to take part in the Honda Rib Challenge for 2016. This was a great achievement in itself and Hywel followed this up by finishing fifth in the whole of the UK so well done Hywel an excellent result.

Thanks must go to all of those who travelled down to support Hywel, plus all who have helped him practice here on the course that Malcolm and Terry prepared, while both Malcolm and Nick have also given up their time to coach Hywel and I know Hywel is appreciative of all of the support he has had.

The previous weekend we had the first ever Saundersfoot Triathlon followed by Bart’s Bash for which the grand total of £642 was raised making a total of just over £2,000 over the last few years and then Ironman Wales on the Sunday. It was back to the more sedate normal club racing on Sunday, or so we thought!

A midday start was still too early for some ( Ben Roberts) and the last two races of the main season must have confused a few who were down on duty for the day. After some rescheduling of personnel, Paul and Julia headed for the hut, while Keith saved the day by switching from his Laser to the safety boat and a hardy fleet of seven awaited the start in pleasant sunny conditions. What could go wrong?

Well everyone got away nicely and then a sudden squall hit with all of the helpers sheltering in the hut. The squall arrived at the gybe mark with perfect timing(or something like that) chaos ensued with boats heading in all directions. Ben had a quick swim which perhaps woke him up at last, while others had a more lengthy immersion (the triathlon was last week guys), but all under the close supervision of Mark and Trish who had to help Steve back into the RS Vision, eventually, apparently some interesting manoeuvres were witnessed and as Steve said on his return to shore ‘that was a silly idea’ which seemed to sum it all up.

After this squall, the conditions settled down a bit, but it was pretty brisk from our (dry) vantage point in the hut. There were a few more thrills and spills, but the race was eventually won by Maurice picking up his sixth win in a row ahead of a refreshed Ben followed by Nick and Paula in the Osprey. Thanks to all who helped the race happen particularly Mark and Trish in one safety boat, plus Keith and Terry in the other boat on a fresh afternoon in the bay

Sadly, the squall had taken its toll on too many competitors and the second race was cancelled possibly denying Maurice of overhauling Simon and Ben in the late season points and all the scores for the season will now be added up over the next few weeks so watch this space.

The annual prize giving and presentation of all sail training awards is set for Saturday, October 22, at the clubhouse so if everyone can return last year’s trophies over the next few weeks please

We have a break this coming weekend before the Frostbite series begins on October 9 with two races starting at 10.30 so let’s hope for some good October sunshine to kick that off.

Last Friday, in the club, the RNLI held a race night in aid of their funds. A pleasant night was had by all those who attended. The hot dogs were excellent and no doubt a few quid was raised for a worthy cause.

Dizzy Rascals