Teatime Tankard 7
The relaxation of Algae restrictions attracted an enormous fleet of seven boats! But there was no wind. These barely present winds were mostly from points around west and the one lap raced took over an hour.
Adam Hilton, glad to be back in his Solo, led the fleet towards Home 2 with the other Solo following; Geoff Floyd very glad to be back in that. John Buckett (glad etc) was third in his Otter and Jane Anderson followed, learning the slightly different ropes of her new Topper which has replaced the one crushed in Storm Eunice. John Dabbs who’d borrowed Roger Heasman’s crew, David Perrett, had the first Bosun  to cross the line. The remaining boats – Bob Sampson taking his granddaughter Amelia in a Club Bosun and his daughter-in-law Melanie in his Laser – struggled to get to Home 2 at all. The three lead boats had a lot of trouble finding any wind to take them round Inlet which enabled Jane Anderson and John Dabbs to move through the fleet; the latter was looking to take second place, only for Geoff Floyd to call starboard on him, forcing John to go about and lose ground. On the way to Pinky the Buckett Otter, Anderson Topper and the two Sampson-helmed craft chose to stay close to the Devon bank and profited from it. Suddenly the little stretch of water around the buoy became very congested! The lightweight crew piloting the Rob Eason Club Bosun – always the fastest Bosun in the fleet – sneaked around Pinky in first place but were immediately overtaken by Adam Hilton’s Solo which had cut inside. Jane Anderson followed these two boats. ‘Running’ back to Dam Green reminded the OOD of watching paint dry and after that buoy the leader lost any wind he had had, Bob Sampson finding himself in almost as bad a position whereas Jane Anderson whistled up a little puff of wind which took her past these two and over the finish line of the shortened race in first place. The handicaps left the first three in the positions they had held on the water but Geoff Floyd who finished fourth, was demoted a place and John Buckett promoted.
- Jane Anderson (Topper)
- Bob and Amelia Sampson (Bosun)
- Adam Hilton (Solo)
- John Buckett (Otter)
- Geoff Floyd (Solo)
- John Dabbs and David Perrett (Bosun)
- Melanie Sampson (Laser)
Roger Heasman was Officer Of the Day and earned the undying gratitude of the fleet by shortening the race to one lap.