AM: Commodore's Cup 5

Despite a hiatus caused by a late-arriving Commodore forgetting the keys locking all 
the race equipment, the midday starting horn sounded only a few minutes late.  With 
many regulars away, however and a dire weather forecast predicting rain and gales  
encouraging others to prefer the attractions of a duvet day, it was only a small but 
perfectly formed group of a half dozen sailors that crossed the starting line.  In reality, 
the wind was a perfectly sailable Easterly Force 3 and Paul Whybrow with Jane as 
crew quickly had the Scorpion away around the dogleg to the turning point at the 
Dam Red buoy.   Neil Wallace made a slightly hesitant starboard tack start along the 
line in the Wayfarer but soon recovered to be on the Scorpion's heels as they started 
on the long traverse across the lake towards the West mark.  Simon Veal in the Laser 
was keeping the leaders in his sights at this stage, with David Harker not far behind.  
By the end of the first lap, Paul had already taken out an 80 second lead over the 
Wayfarer, with Simon hard on the Wayfarer's heels just seven seconds further behind.  
The Laser went rather wide rounding the Dam Green buoy however and started to fall 
back, but Katie Leveridge on the other hand was catching up and overtaking David 
Harker in his RS Feva.  

As the race progressed, the wind started to decrease and the Wayfarer held the gap 
steady on the Scorpion in front.  David Harker had his hands full when attempting the 
fly the Feva's gennaker on the reach up to Pinky, the big yellow sail catching a gust 
and pushing the hull over at almost ninety degrees, leaving the helm teetering in a 
'will he or won't he go in' situation for several long seconds before with a heroic 
effort David averted a capsize and got the Feva upright again.  By the end of a 
shortish race, the Scorpion crossed the line just over a minute in front of the Wayfarer 
but it wasn't quite enough to give Paul the race on handicap, with Neil Wallace and 
Nicky Buckett clinching victory in the Wayfarer by the narrow margin of seven 
seconds.  Katie Leveridge also sailed well, finishing a few minutes behind the leaders 
but just grabbing third place from Simon on handicap. Thanks to Nathan Banham-
Leveridge for assisting the lone Race Officer and acting as timekeeper.

Results: 1st Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett (Wayfarer), 2nd Paul Whybrow and Jane 
Chadney (Scorpion), 3rd Katie Leveridge (Laser 4.7), 4th Simon Veal (Laser), 5th 
David Harker (RS Feva), 6th Mike Ford and John Buckett (Wanderer) 


PM: Cup Race 5

Seven boats reappeared for the afternoon race to find the excitement starting a bit 
sooner than they had anticipated when the starting horn sounded a minute early, but 
the fleet all got away pretty well and quickly rounded the Dam buoy; the only 
exception was Mike Ford, who after giving a virtuoso technical demonstration of 
sailing backwards in the morning, forgot how to engage forward gear in the Wanderer  
and got into irons at the mark, remaining trapped in his own individual Doldrums 
caused by the fluky winds coming over the dam wall.  The Scorpion launched its 
spinnaker as soon as it cleared the mark and crew Steve Axford managed the 
impressive feat of keeping it flying all the way up the lake, despite having to do a 
major detour to round Inlet buoy and then back out around the headland en route.  
Neil Wallace in the Wayfarer was also going well in second place, followed at a 
distance by a group of three Lasers and the Otter.  On the reach up to Pinky mark, 
Katie Leveridge seemed to have made a pact with her own personal wind god, as she 
took advantage of several little gusts that eluded all the surrounding boats to take her 
up alongside Simon Veal's full-rigged Laser.  Despite a long absence away on shore 
leave, striding out the miles on the Ulster Way, Jane Chadney quickly found her sea 
legs and soon had her Laser 4.7 away from the pack and pulling well clear into third 
place.  

By the second lap, the pattern of the race was pretty much established, the Scorpion 
remaining clear at the front, with the main excitement caused by the Wayfarer having 
to take some fairly nifty avoiding action to keep clear of some of the visiting group of 
windsurfing and sailing beginners who were moving a little unpredictably across his 
bows.  However, Neil Wallace was managing to haul in at least some of the 
Scorpion's lead on the beats from West mark to the Dam, reading the windshifts well 
and tacking on the headers.  Nevertheless, it was not enough and Paul Whybrow 
stayed far enough ahead to take first place on the water by over two minutes, 
sufficient to give him a win on handicap in front of the Wayfarer by 30 seconds.  
Once again, the winds faded further away as the slower boats worked their way round 
the last lap, but Jane Chadney was still next boat across the line, to give her a very 
comfortable third place on handicap.

Results: 1st Paul Whybrow and Steve Axford (Scorpion), 2nd Neil Wallace and Nicky 
Buckett (Wayfarer), 3rd Jane Chadney (Laser 4.7), 4th John Buckett (Otter), 5th Katie 
Leveridge (Laser 4.7), 6th Simon Veal (Laser), 7th Mike Ford and John Leveridge 
(Wanderer)