With the Turkey Race being abandoned due to poor weather and the Ray Perryman being postponed until July, it has been an eight month gap since our last racing event and it was good to be back on the water in rather better weather than we had twelve months ago. A total of eleven yachts attended at Rockland, although not all of them raced, along with three supporting motor boats. It is fair to say that we filled most of the basin and it also meant there was a good supply of customers for our pop-up bar, ably manned by the Vice Commodore who, once again, sold more pints of beer than were allegedly available.
Saturday morning saw seven yachts set out to race in somewhat light and fluky conditions. This year it was decided to loop around on the river before heading up to Coldham Hall for lunch, with the lure of the pub’s sausage rolls being a strong temptation for some. Making against the tide on the downriver legs was tricky at times, with Vixen falling into an irritating hole, which cost her several places, but Bill and crew David on Morning Calm were revelling in the conditions and determined to catch Tinkerbell, who was in the start five minutes ahead. This was not achieved on the water, but it did result in a first place for Bill by over three minutes on corrected time, with Colin Brown’s Glory in second place and Adrian on Tinkerbell only able to manage a third.
After a very pleasant lunch time break in the pub garden, the same seven yachts set off for the afternoon race, with the start being moved down to Strumpshaw to avoid having to tackle Train Reach against the last of the flood tide. The breeze had picked up a little, forcing Bill to reef as he was short-handed and so this time Tinkerbell came out on top by two minutes from Vixen, who in turn was a minute ahead of Glory and Simon Miles on Pan in third and fourth places respectively, with just ten seconds between them.
With the sun still blazing down and the maritime thirst needing to be quenched, many resorted to their own supplies before Julia arrived around 5 o’clock with the second polypin of Swallowtail for our bar, along with some very tasty snacks. This session morphed into a rather spread out group barbecue session, with the majority of the fleet feeling that was the only way to cook and eat on such a lovely sunny evening.
On Sunday, with Vixen having to drop out due to a lack of crew, but Anna arriving, there were still seven yachts for the downriver race to Cantley. A very necessary loop was inserted so that the OOD team of Lisa and Tracy could get to Cantley before the fleet and most yachts made short work of a largely reaching course. Much to his delight, Colin won the race, giving him and Glory their first ever trophy, with Morning Calm pushed into second place and Wandering Rose, crewed by the Marigold team, coming in third. With a first and second place, Glory also took the Reedham Open Trophy for overall winner.
