AM: Equinoctial Trophy 1

At 11.30 am clouds mirrored in the lake with two small areas of broken 
water. There was talk of course shortening, but by start time there was 
wind on the water for the whole lake. Ten boats set off, three of which 
had crews.  Lap 1. Bob Sampson who arrived in his Morgan, swapped it 
for a Laser and just pipped Jane Anderson to the end of the first lap.  Lap 
2. Bob Sampson was still holding Jane Anderson at bay, approaching the 
new luxurious club house conurbation. Jane just managed to overtake 
Bob metres before the line but the battle continues... Neil and Nicky in 
the Wayfarer were safely in third position. Jane Chadney had traded 
positions with Roger Heasman for fourth whilst opening up a gap on John 
Savage in the Solo.

Roger capsized just after lap 2 ended and was then overhauled by John 
Savage but managed to stay just ahead of Mike Ford and John Duncalf in 
the Wanderer.  Lap 3. Bob lost first position to Jane Anderson and also 
dropped behind Neil and Nicky. However in full view of the grandstand 
crowd he stole back the position from Neil and Nicky.  Jane Chadney was 
now out on her own in fourth, whilst fifth, sixth and seventh were being 
hotly contested between John Savage, Mike Ford and Roger Heasman.
Lap 4. Jane Anderson led the field home by about two minutes and was 
followed in, by a fight to the line between Neil with crew Nicky and Bob.

Results: 

1st Jane Anderson (Laser)
2nd Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett (Wayfarer)
3rd Bob Sampson (Laser)
4th Jane Chadney (Laser)
5th John Buckett (Otter)
6th Mike Ford and John Duncalf (Wanderer)
7th John Savage (Solo)
8th Roger Heasman (Laser)
9th Toby Tobias and Vicki Duncalf (Bosun)
Stephanie Heasman (Topper) rtd

PM race: Equinoctial Trophy 6

Neil Wallace was not in such a flap in the afternoon, having rushed home 
and collected his battens, missing for the morning race.  Before and at the 
start the whole fleet was becalmed. One minute later a breeze sprang up 
from the North West to put smiles on everyone's faces!  Bob and Roger 
were first away with Neil and Nicky following but slightly to windward 
and heading for the Cornish bank. Jane Anderson tacked away on a wind 
shift and headed straight up the lake. (The art was catching the breeze the 
moment it came!) The wind then suddenly rose to become quite brisk.
At the end of the first lap Jane Anderson had cemented her lead with Bob 
Sampson and Jane Chadney trying to catch her. Jane Chadney had started 
right at the back of the fleet but wiggled her way up through, taking good 
advantage of the wind shifts.

In the following laps the gusts increased and this enabled John and Nicky 
to move the Wayfarer up into third place. John Buckett and Toby were 
having a dingdong further back with Toby trying to get the larger Bosun 
to windward of Johns diminutive Otter. John then tried luffing Toby but 
to no good effect. Meanwhile, Mike Ford was having a lonely last ever 
race in his Wanderer (sold to a man from Oxford) and having to shed 
wind to try to keep the boat flat. Simon Veal managed to pass Jane 
Chadney but should really have known better as Jane re-passed him on 
the last lap and then left him for dead.

Jane Anderson took line and handicap honours. Everybody came ashore 
happy and cheerful and had a good laugh and a joke sitting in the 
sunshine at the picnic tables.

Results: 

1st Jane Anderson (Laser)
2nd Bob Sampson (Laser)
3rd Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett (Wayfarer)
4th John Buckett (Otter)
5th Jane Chadney (Laser)
6th Simon Veal (Laser)
7th Roger Heasman (Laser)
8th Toby Tobias (Bosun)
9th Mike Ford (Wanderer)
10th John Savage (Solo)