Today wasn’t exactly our winter of discontent, but it certainly was wintry and the greyness of the skies was enough to make anyone miserable. Be that as it may, this didn’t stop 20 Ilcas from launching into a shifty northerly wind, which as you would expect was about as reliable as a politician on, ‘I’m a celebrity. Get me out of here!’.
The most obvious choice for the first windward mark was Brindle, but this area had been claimed by the ‘Oppies’ so, our race officer, Bob Jennings, elected to place a movable mark, which sadly did nothing to improve the steadiness of the wind.
From Brindle, we were asked to run to Chris Somner. Driverless trains are here already, with driverless cars in the near future. Maybe, Alan was experimenting with the idea of a driverless Ilca. This would explain why his boat decided to gybe itself and cause the boom to collide with Hywel’s boat. Two turns for Alan being the consequence of that experiment! This left Chris with a smile on his face and free to battle it out with Hywel for first place. Sadly, for him, it was a contest he didn’t win.
After Chris Somner, the course involved some one-sided fetchy beats, largely due to a rapidly ebbing tide. It was challenging to find and keep secure any clean wind that was going. We finished with a short windward – leeward leg in the vicinity of the box.
There were other contests in the Ilca 7s, apart from the one for first place. Colston and the Commodore were enjoying close quarter combat until the latter’s kicker detached itself from the mast. Andrew Hartley was another Ilca 7 engaged in battle. However, his opponent was a recalcitrant mainsheet that refused to be played with. Andrew blamed ‘tennis elbow’, but when was the last time you saw Andrew at Wimbledon? Lifting all those heavy weights might be a more likely culprit, don’t you think?!
The Ilca 6s indulged in close sailing with some familiar names at the front of the fleet. Roberta overcame her dislike of cold weather sailing to add to her ever-growing list of wins followed by Rob Penson, who’s had more podium finishes than lies told by Boris Johnson! Lucy Wise, our newest recruit in the Ilca 6s is clearly gaining boat speed and confidence, so watch out!
Podium Results:
Ilca7s
1.Hywel 2. Chris 3. Alan
Ilca 6s
1.Roberta 2. Rob 3. Ann
Full results on the web-site
We were looked after by Donald and Phil and we also thank the Race Officer and team on the box, and, also the other rib crews who braved today’s unpleasant weather.
Ann K