Many moons ago, in my free time away from attempting to learn the art of pedagogy, I was fond of listening to (and therefore so too were my student housemates) an American soft rock band called, “Mountain”.  A particular favourite song was one by the name of “Nantucket Sleigh Ride”, so called because of the terrifying experience of whalers in an open boat being “towed” through the waves by a harpooned whale. It was brought to mind by the first race of June, on the run from Wych to TEV Handles, most of which was by the lee. At least, I was under the control of a competent helm and not an enraged leviathan, but I still felt more than a touch vulnerable. However, this wasn’t the only windy race of June and, also by no means the windiest, which will be revealed if you read on.

Just when I thought it was safe to go on the water, I was reminded that it was in June 1975 that the movie, “Jaws” was released. Lucky for me then that I didn’t go swimming, unlike Dave Tabb who, very unwisely, in my opinion, left the boat without the permission of his crew. For this indiscretion, he earnt himself temporary ownership of the Rasputin Cup and a more permanent possession of an open water swimming certificate. My spies inform me that Tabby’s swimming skills don’t even match those of ‘Eric the Eel’(remember him?), so it was fortunate for him to have such a competent crew in Chewey, who quickly manoeuvred the F15 into position and executed a swift recovery: Chapeaux!

Roberta and John have enjoyed regular success in their endeavours on the water and it was no surprise to this reporter that they recorded their first victory of this season in  the first race of the month. Their joy was somewhat diminished subsequently when they discovered they had been awarded the dreaded Rasputin for failing to leave the pontoon in a seamanlike (sea person like?) manner! If Patrick is reading this he will not be surprised that the same fate awaits him when the committee catch up with him. Leaving via the cut on a very low tide is a dodgy business. I guess Patrick could claim that he was led astray by Crispin and Steve who had successfully negotiated this tricky passage, but the case for the prosecution is that the majority of the fleet opted for the safer alternative of leaving via the marina!

The race of the 14^th saw the windiest contest of the season with gusts of 29kts causing a degree of chaos amongst the fleet. This makes Chewey’s man overboard recovery even more impressive. Crispin clearly enjoyed the race, and guessed correctly that Kim was not of the same opinion. Andrew in 3936 retired from this race. He will be able to inform you whether or not this was the same event in which the spinnaker disc dropped over the furled jib preventing its further use! Either way, on the instruction of our fleet captain, this was another Rasputin award. After the race, in an attempt to gather information for his forthcoming report, Crispin requested sailors to send him details of any misadventures. Judging by the number of replies he received, I was expecting a report of Brobdingnagian proportions (one for you Crispin!). Finally, on the subject of this race, I must give a shout out to Graham Scroggie and his crew, Jack who mastered the conditions supremely with complete serenity, at least on the part of Graham. Jack, I’m given to understand was rather less happy with sailing by the lee in those winds.

June 21^st was the longest day, and in Pete Allam’s words, it was also the longest beat, at least it was for Jo and him and all the others who were led astray by his errant navigation! Our generously minded fleet captain asked me to award the Rasputin to almost the entire fleet for this misdemeanour. I’ve yet to work out exactly how to achieve this. I think the best way forward is to procrastinate and await the return of the boss!

I know some people find the job of reporting to be irksome. Luckily Pete and Jo are not in this number. No sooner had Pete finished his excellent and funny report than they came 3^rd in the very next race!

Jo, womanfully (!) picked up the mantle and wrote about a very uneventful race which had only one surprise. I can summarise it thus, paraphrasing Jo’s words, no slips, no trips, but, surprisingly, no Richard Ledger and Alan Baker: a very rare occurrence!
On the subject of irregular events, the last race of the month contained an all-female team on board 3974, ( Ann & Edith). I had thought that this was the first occasion this had happened, but I was very quickly made aware of my error! Jo and Karen Oldale (nee Baker) sailed in Poole Week winning one race and coming third in another. Further back in the annals of our fleet’s history, a fifteen was sailed by Maggie Haxel and Sally Davies. The reporter of this race suggested a degree of disappointment with the course, but this wasn’t totally shared by the people I heard discussing it on the balcony, but their views might have been mellowed by the lovely weather and the consumption of a variety of beverages, a good proportion of which were of an alcoholic nature. There was absolutely no disagreement about the wisdom (or lack of it) surrounding the Dart start!

To finish this report, I’ll give you a rest from my verbosity and provide you with some charts to look at

The right hand column indicates the number of boats beaten.
 

Top Ten Sailors of the Month: June Wednesdays
1	4101	Crispin & Steve	48
2	3936	FFFS*	40
3	3793	Pete & Jo	39
4	4058	Phil & Martin	36
5	3901	Peter & Steve	27
6	3758	Graham L & Sara	23
7	3934	Homfrey & Graham D	23
8	4016	Roberta & John L	22
9	4019	Steve & Lisa	21
10	3974	Ann  & John K	21

 

Top Ten sailors of the Month: June Saturdays
1	4101	Crispin & Steve	41
2	4020	Graham & Jack/Ben	34
3	3922	FFFS	30
4	4115	Ian & Kim/Michael	28
5	4052	Tabby & Chewey	27
6	3821	Patrick & Aly	27
7	3537	Bob & Huw	24
8	4058	Phil & Martin	22
9	4088	Geof & Nick	19
10	4054	Andy & Simon	19

One last event to mention was the training with Adam Bowers. I haven’t heard much about this except that at least one boat (Patrick’s) found it very useful. I hope the other attendees were equally enamoured.

Well that’s it for June. If you haven’t won Sailor of the Month, or the Rasputin award, or an open water swimming certificate, you’ve missed your chance for this month, but you’ve got ‘Big fleet day’(July 26^th) with social to follow, speed testing in the bay (July 6^th) and a possible mini-series (July 12^th) all to look forward to.

JK

 

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