September, once the harbinger of what another John Keats termed the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ seems, in this country at least, to have morphed into a signaller of extremes. An example of what I’m talking about is the Fifteens still being out on the water when a near 40kts breeze appeared!  This may go some way to explaining how Mervyn ended up in the water a considerable distance from his boat. His interesting defence when faced with the prospect of receiving an Open Swimmer’s award was that he had given himself permission to leave the boat! If that were so, maybe Ron should have left him there rather than perform his amazing pick up! Read on, if you will, to discover other remarkable events.

Our turnouts are generally pretty good, so when I tell you that a race officer produced a course with more marks in it than there were fifteens to sail it (17 marks, 15 boats), I’d expect you to be a bit surprised. When you discover that the Race Officer was Mike Barton, I’d venture to suggest that the level of surprise is somewhat reduced. David McLeman’s report points out, though, that Mike’s odyssey contained not one but five true beats: chapeaux!

For Pete and Jo to make a mistake in club racing is unusual, so their sequence of navigational errors is noteworthy. I don’t know whether Pete was particularly hungry when he made his decision to head for Cake instead of Ro-Ro (details in his report 24/9) but maybe not since by his own admission he took a circuitous route from Rebbecks to the line and subsequently the bar! These errors were preceeded by the race of the 20^th.  At least then, it didn’t involve the infamous ‘N’ and ‘M’, but in the same part of the alphabet the culprits on this occasion were ‘K’ and ‘S’.  Before anyone else can suggest it, I should report that Pete did actually approach ‘Specsavers’ on the way home!

Saturday 6^th produced another event of extremes. Eleven boats braved the very gusty conditions (27+kts). Patrick and William sailed the last part of the race without the benefit of a kicker (vang if you insist!). This must have been a huge effort because Patrick needed to take a week off in Greece to recover. Or was it simply to get inspiration for his Homeric report!
Thanks to the extremes of the weather this month, we sailed five out of eight opportunities. Even then, it was only as high as five thanks to Mike B and Geof G stepping up as Race Officers at short notice, and because we have a number of sailors in the fleet who love to sail in heavy weather. Four of those races were won by 4114. I wonder which is the more remarkable feat, firstly, Richard’s racing skill or next his ability to find a seemingly never-ending supply of excellent crew mates!

The Saturday and Wednesday Summer series ended at the end of this month. They both had clear cut winners but in each of the series the race for podium places was very close. Congratulations to Richard W and his various crews and to Pete and Jo for their respective victories. Saturday’s podium placings have yet to be finalised as I write, but it looks like a fight between the Linders and Patrick and Aly, although, Ron and Mervyn may also have a shout. Wednesday’s results are complete with a dead heat for second and third between Ian/Mike and Phil/Martin. The former being placed in second place by virtue (I think) of having more 1^st places. Another winner in my view is 3966 sailed by Richard L & Alan who sailed in every one of the Saturday and Wednesday Summer Series! 

We’ve had one trophy race this month: The Bob Hoare Trophy (last race in September). It was won this year by 4114, Richard Whitworth & Eddie Scroggie.

I’m sure there will be Rasputin Cup Awards to mention, but as I’ve been away desperately trying to keep up with Ann, cycling in Portugal, I can’t give any further details. I can, however report that the sailors of the month are: Saturdays = 4052 Simon/Andy & Chewey and Wednesdays = 3793 Pete & Jo.  September also saw the return of Simon Redhead (Shreddy) who has bought 4052, as Tabby is enjoying the sun in Australia too much, and is sailing as fast as ever – now with Matt Mosley.

Well that’s it for September, if you missed watching the Europeans rub American noses in it, bad luck, but you’ve got a mini-series to look forward to (11^th/10^th) and the joy of watching Mervyn receive another wild swimming award!

JK