In the 1990’s, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner (they of “Three lions on my shirt” fame) hosted a TV programme called, ‘Fantasy Football League’. One of its stars was Angus Loughran who became better known as ‘Statto’ because of his love for statistics. Why am I mentioning this? Well, let’s just say that I know at least one person who will like this newsletter!

Before I present you with my numerical investigations, I ought to offer you the opinion of Mark Twain who said, “there are three kind of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics! Ok, warning given; here we go!
 

Podium Placings for 2024 Event Boat # Team Points Easter 4101 Crispin & Steve 6 3537 Bob & Phil A 7 4088 Geof Nick/Dave 18 Wednesday Spring 3934 Graham & Homfray 31 3922 Ian & Mike B 35 4016 Roberta & John 50 Saturday Spring 4115 Ian & Kim 24 3821 Patrick & Aly 39 4111 Mervyn & Ron 48 Wednesday Summer 4101 Crispin & Steve 11 3922 Ian & Mike B 23 4016 Roberta & John 24 Saturday Summer 4115 Ian & Kim 29 3922 Ian & Mike B 31 3537 Bob & Huw 33 Wednesday Autumn 4016 Roberta & John 21 4101 Crispin & Steve 26 3922 Ian & Mike B 43 Saturday Autumn 4114 Richard & Trefor 13 3922 Ian & Mike B 16 4088 Geof & Nick/H/Alan 18

Well done to Graham and Homfray for managing to split up the Wednesday trio of Ian and Mark B, Crispin and Steve and Roberta and John! Ok, so those are the prize winners, but some might argue that the real heroes are the ones who turn up on a regular basis. Below is a table of those boats which have appeared in 50% of the series racing or better.  I am aware that the percentages do not cater for those not fortunate enough to be able to sail on Wednesday afternoons. I refer you to Mark Twain’s comments about statistics, and you might find solace in Phillip Larkin’s poem, “Toads”!

Boats achieving ≥50% turnout through the season (all series) No. Helm & Crew #races % 3966 Richard Ledger & Alan Baker 52 93% 3922 FFFS* 52 93% 3936 FFFS* 47 84% 4111 Mervyn Wright & Ron Elliott 41 73% 4027 Mike Clapp & Paul Tasker 38 68% 4101 Crispin Read-Wilson & Steve Brown 38 68% 3974 Ann Keates & John Keates 37 66% 3901 Peter Biggs & Yung Leung /Steve Powell 36 64% 4088 Geof Gibbons & Nick Gibbons/H/Alan Davis 35 62% 3971 David Wilkins & Frances Wilkins 33 59% 4025 Chris Gorringe & Nadia Hosie 33 59% 4016 Roberta Hartley & John Lyons 31 55% 4019 Steve Randle & Lisa Randle 31 55% 3793 Pete Allam & Jo Allam 29 52%

So, what about those sailors who have been lucky enough to win one of our ‘bespoke’ bottles of premium lager? Below is a table showing the winners during the 2024 season.

Sailors of the Month Month Wednesday # beaten Saturday # beaten April Mervyn Wright & Ron Elliot 12 Crispin Read-Wilson & Steve Brown/ Nick Cornish 41 May Crispin Read-Wilson & Steve Brown 70 Ian & Kim Linder 27 June Graham Davies & Homfray Vines   36 Richard Whitworth & Trefor Jones 30 July Roberta Hartley & John Lyons 26 3922 Fireball syndicate 40 August Mike Clapp & Paul Tasker 20 Chris Gorringe & Nadia Hosie 37 September Phil Cotton & Martin Cowell 28 Andy Currell & Simon Flack 31 October Ann & John Keates 48 Patrick Keats & Aly Baxter 17 November   Pete & Jo Allam 45 Geof Gibbons & Nick G/H/Alan D 34 December   3922 Fireball syndicate 25 Mervyn Wright & Ron Elliot 14

You will, no doubt, discover immediately that Crispin and Steve managed to win the award on Wednesday and Saturday at the first available opportunity! The only other pair to achieve the feat of owning (drinking??) double portions are Mervyn and Ron, so I’m guessing the former has consumed them all! There’s a nice piece of symmetry here in that they won the first and last prize of the season in this competition. ‘Pair’ is doing quite a bit of heavy work here because the FFFS group will argue that 3922 appears on both days, but they don’t get a full mention because I’m guessing that more than a pair contributed to this achievement (controversial or what?!). The standard of report writing this season has been very high. Is this the result of the fantastic prize on offer for the best one each month, I ask myself? No, is the answer if I remember a conversation I had with Ian Linder who gleefully told me what he thought of our pencils! If only he had known how much we spent on them, he’d have been even more scathing! In all seriousness, the true prize is finishing high enough up the fleet to be in a position to be having to write the report in the first place! This applies to everyone on the list apart from me. I sneaked onto the report writing table by doing so for a race that didn’t even take place! I say congratulations to all our report writers, and, for me, the number of different authors we’ve had is a clear indication of how closely fought are our fleet’s nautical battles.                                                        Report Writers For 2024

6 reports Chris & Nadia* 5 reports Ian Z*, Roberta 4 reports John L 3 reports Crispin, Mike B 2 reports Andy B, David McL, Kim, Mervyn, Mike C*, Richard L, Richard W, Steve & Lisa 1 report Andrew C*, Andy C, Jack, John K, Geof, Graham & Sara, Huw, Ian L, Pete A*, Patrick, Peter B, Peter V & Martin C                                                              *Reporter of the month

Developing the theme of highly contested races, I offer you a table that shows the number of different race winners we have had. You won’t be surprised, though to read the names in the boxes that indicate the highest number of wins in the season. At least, it will make it clear to us mere mortals on whom we have to keep a close eye!

Finally, there’s a table to show the average finishing position of each boat in the fleet. I have ignored retirements (this includes the nefarious one which was to avoid homework duties). I wouldn’t lay down my life to swear on the accuracy of it, but you’ll get an idea of your closest competitors. There’s no surprise for 3974; the people nearest to us on paper have been our close companions on the water for most of the season!

Boat # Helm & Crew Average Position 3537 Bob Alexander & Huw Willetts 3 4114 Richard Whitworth & Trefor Jones 3 3793 Pete & Jo Allam 4 4052 Dave Tabb & Chewey Sherell 4 4101 Crispin Read-Wilson & Steve Brown 4 4016 Roberta Hartley & John Lyons 6 4025 Chris Gorringe & Nadia Hosie 6 4088 Geof Gibbons & Nick Gibbons/H/Alan Davis 6 3922 FFFS 7 4115 Ian Linder & Kim Linder 7 3934 Graham Davies & Homfray Vines 8 3936 FFFS 8 3821 Patrick Keats & Aly Baxter 8 4058 Phil & Miranda Cotton 8 4111 Mervyn Wright & Ron Elliott 8 4125 David McLeman & Anne-Laure McLeman 8 3758 Graham Latham & Sara Briscoe 9 4020 Graham Scroggie & Ben Scroggie/Jack Bowen 9 3901 Peter Biggs & Yung Leung/Steve Powell 10 3966 Richard Ledger & Alan Baker 10 3974 Ann Keates & John Keates 10 4036 Dick Linford & Richard Popper/ Pete Traves 10 4054 Simon Flack & Andrew Currell 10 4019 Steve Randle & Lisa Randle/ Rob Walford 11 4027 Mike Clapp & Paul Tasker 11 3851 David Pipe & William Keats/ Nick Cornish 12 3850 Christina Moncur & Stephen Moncur 13 3971 David Wilkins & Frances Wilkins 13 3674 Richard Deveraux & Richard Horton 14 3965 David Tarver & Keiron Ranking 14 3643 Luke Normington & Sam Moore 16 4119 Tim Roberts & Edith Fernandez 17

Well, that’s it for 2024. No more from this scribe until the start of the new season. Ann and I are off to Canada, provided the new US President hasn’t decided to invade it! Happy New Year to everyone. Let’s hope for continued tight racing in 2025, and I hope I’m not the first winner of the Rasputin trophy!
 

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