The Best tea of the year!! 4th and 5th October

[nprice]

Chris,
I have the cotton sails you lent/gave me. I haven't finished my wooden mast yet so haven't used them. They were way too tall for my metal mast although with a very short foot. Certainly be interested in a more normal size but I think my existing mast is quite short. I'll check it tomorrow and can bring the other sails in any case in case someone else wants them. I also have some Terylene sails which do fit.
See you Saturday.

[keithr]

Hi All

Rod and I have looked at the forecast and wimped out as its a long drive down.

Shame as we sailed 199 last week and she went well, ist time since London Boat show.

Hope you have a good weekend, will try for Bristol next month.



Keith & Rod.

[Pat]

Pity, it looks like Shearwater will have a decent wind for a change. If anyone else thinks the wind's too strong remember we're in a valley, surrounded by tall trees which break up the wind so it is never as strong as forecast.

So we've got van space free and a spare bed!

[nprice]

Weather is not looking too good. Chris, Luff on my current mast is just a foot shorter than your sail. The wooden mast when I finish it will be longer. We'll be there in any case tommorrow and see how it looks.

[Rupert]

Hmmm, might nip up and swap Firefly for Mirror in the morning if things look too windy! She is just coming of age for cvrda events. Though I've just looked at netweather.tv and it is predicting less wind. I guess it depends when the fronts come through.

[Pat]

The quick report (while I wait for Sandy to shower):

Gusty but dry at the start of the first race and a nice turnout of wooden classics on the jetty. The first race saw a few retirements as the wind strengthened including Roger and Dad in the GP & Chris and Lois in Iska. Nick Price turned his nicely restored Merlin into a swimming pool and was towed in with little but the gunwhale above water, a situation a few more of us faced later. Garry helmed SpriteFull with Pete Sneyd (local Otter sailor) as crew and completed the race. Bob and Sue retired when the Lark mainsheet came adrift. Paul and Colin capsised the Graduate near the finish and retired. I missed the finish so results later.

Second race saw plenty of starters in a wind which became very gusty and kept the rescue boat busy. Bob and Sue fell victim to a gust and stuck in the mud whilst Garry and Peter had at least two swimming lessons. Jon and Tony went over in the Albacore on the OODs entertainment gybe mark by the box as we did later. Others retired whilst still upright including Chris and Lois (I told Sandy I wasn't retiring whilst Iska was still out there!) and Nigel Osborne's nicely restored Albacore from Bristol. Rupert in the Firefly with Roger crewing took line honours with Ben Marshall in Merlin Fat Marce being the only other boat to finish.

There were no takers for the third race so now back for Angie and Marianne's chilli supper.

[nprice]

I have some photos of the second race yesterday if anybody wants some. Please email me nick at priceapts dot co dot uk

[Rupert]

After Saturday's big blow, Sunday continued the tradition of contrasting days at Shearwater, with the average wind direction being straight down...Frustrating sailing, but good racing, and more important, lots of really good food!
And thanks to Pat, Sandy and Roger for hanging around while I waited for the AA to get my car started. He did pretty much the same as we had been, but with added bits like holding buttons down while turning the engine over, and eventually it all reset and the car went...Thanks also for the offers of places to keep Saskia. We both made it back OK in the end!

[chris]

Glad you got your car going in the end Rupert. We were thinking of you as we finisihed off the beer. Next time we'll see if we can immobilise Saskia insead!
Many thanks to all the vistors for coming to the event, we'll try and improve the weather another time.

[Rupert]

I unplugged the offending item just now...problem solved! Though getting the inside of the car back into one piece was fun.

[Garry R]

Great fun and the tea alone was well worth the trip from Aberdeen via Inverness. Now the proud owner of a set of cotton sails which will be repaired and may fit one or other of the boats!! Thanks to all at Shearwater and especially to Chris for the loan of the boat and Lois for as well for kindly putting me up.

[Rupert]

Has anyone done a Y&Y and DSM write up, yet?

[roger]

Its on my to do list.

[Rupert]

Thanks for getting the pictures up, Pat. Funny, it doesn't look as windy as I remember!