by Adam Hilton
Mandy Pollard
Bosuns Plus 2
The wind, its gusts, its shifts, its sheer power, defined the day’s racing. Force four, gusting to six was the forecast and fully evident in the first race and exceeded in the second. Two senior helms took to the water but, daunted, returned to the shore before the start.
Roger Heasman and Rick Thurlow’s Bosun was well beyond the start line when the klaxon sounded. They had to return and started last. The first, in windward to leeward, rather than bow over the line, order, were Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert in the yellow Bosun, Bob Sampson’s Laser, flying a modest 4.7 sail, and Dave Perrett’s small-sailed Solo. The Sampson Laser was first around the first buoy, at Inlet, with Brian Pollard second and Jane Anderson’s Topper third. By the time they reached Pinkie, Sue Murray (Laser 4.7) was ahead of Jane Anderson and at the buoy she slipped past Brian Pollard. Thereafter she chased Bob Sampson’s leading Laser at varying distances until, between Dam Green and the finish line on the fourth and final lap she managed to nose ahead and win on the water. It however was Jane Anderson’s third place at the finish which the handicaps rewarded with the victory in the non-Bosun race.
In the Bosun race the Pollard/Gilbert  Bosun was overtaken by its Dabbs/Spiller sister and then, at the last, by the Heasman/ Thurlow boat.
Bosun race
- John Dabbs and Linda Spiller (Bosun)
- Roger Heasman and Rick Thurlow (Bosun)
- Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
Plus race
- Jane Anderson (Topper)
- Sue Murray (Laser 4.7)
- Bob Sampson (Laser 4.7)
- Dave Perrett (Solo)
Pursuit 3
After two laps, during which most of the single-handed dinghies had capsized, some more than once, the race was stopped, the reason being, not the increased strength of the winds, but that the safety boat’s outboard had become partially dislodged. It was not a day to sail without a safety boat.
Many thanks were given to Nathan Pollard and Linda Spiller, Officers of the Day, and to Mandy Pollard who took the photographs.