25th July race report

Teatime Tankard (Roger’s Bosuns)

Wednesday and the beginning of two new series; the ‘Teatime Tankard’ which is open to all and ‘Roger’s Bosuns’ which is open to novices at the helm. In the end Cilla Gilbert was the only novice on the water so perhaps her trouncing of the Commodore in his Bosun will not count for much.

The wind was infuriating. When it was present it was north westerly but often it wasn’t present at all. Paul Whybrow found himself in vacuums a couple of times. On the other hand it occasionally gusted powerfully, enough to knock over the Graduate of Adeney Pooler which he was continuing to reacquaint himself with. The sun shone.

On the first lap Nathan Pollard’s Full-sailed Laser and Paul Whybrow’s Solo kept close company as did Cilla Gilbert, under the watchful eye of Roger Heasman, and Adam Hilton, his Bosun crewed by John Dabbs. In the subsequent two laps Nathan remained ahead but never ran away from Paul, whereas Cilla’s lead increased by leaps and bounds. After the race it was discovered that one of the boats had caught a fisherman’s lines and pulled two rods into the water where they could not be found. A warning to us all: the Lake is smaller than usual and we need to stay well clear of fishermen!

  1. Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
  2. Paul Whybrow (Solo)
  3. Cilla Gilbert and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
  4. Adam Hilton and John Dabbs (Bosun)

Many thanks are due to Bob Sampson and Sue Murray who were coaching novices who may well race before the season is out, to Sue Murray who ran the race and to Roger Heasman and Adam Hilton who carried on the work of refendering the pontoon.