Event Report, by Keith Rollinson:
The gathered fleets of Old Gaffers and Classic racing dinghies took full advantage of the perfect conditions for the first day of Clywedog sailing Clubs special weekend of nostalgia.
The entries for the gaffers totalled a dozen boats and with only two of the same type or class there was a variety of Sail colours and differing types of construction on display. They enjoyed a leisurely cruise/race up to the Staylittle end of the Lake where a picnic prepared by the Clywedog Lady members (and some men!!) manning the galley was enjoyed by all before racing back down to the Clubhouse for the evening meal and entertainment.
The Classics kicked off in the afternoon with a 90 minute pursuit race which saw Steve Jones in his beautifully turned out Tideway 39 hold out till very nearly the end before being overtaken by Alan Price in his OK 1211. Holding on to third place was the Graduate 370 of John Gardner with the F/F and Finn who started 28mins after the first boat got away with just too much to do to overhaul the front runners.
Sunday.
Eleven boats came to the line for the first race with constant wind shifts seeing the lead change during the whole race. Keith Rollinson with stand in crew Richard Corfield visiting from Devon in flying fifteen 1457 managed to breakaway on lap3 to take line honours but was pipped in to 2nd place on handicap timing by John & Lynn Gardner in the Graduate 370 and Alan Price in the OK 1211 was third.
The wind had risen to a very strong force 4 gusting to 6 in the narrows for Race 2 with Chris & Lois Barlow breaking the mast in a violent capsize on lap one and most of the fleet succumbed to the gusty conditions keeping the Rescue crews busy on recovery of a number of capsized boats. Only three boats competed the course with Rollinson and Corfield in the F/F 1457 blasting round to win from the Shearwater Catamaran 1414 of Ashley Weston & Will Coggins in 2nd place and Alan Williams in Finn 386 fighting through to a valiant third place.
Due to the wind conditions and bearing in mind that all the boats competing were first launched between 25 and 50 years ago it was deemed unsafe to hold the final race. The final positions for the CVRDA event were a win for the home crew from Clywedog, the Flying Fifteen of Keith Rollinson & Richard Corfield, with Alan Williams from Plymouth in the Finn 2nd and Shearwater Cat from Bala of Ashley Weston & Will Coggins in third place.
The Clywedog club wishes to thank all the competitors for making the long journey to Mid Wales and look forward to holding the event in 2005, also thanks to Northampton Sailboats for contributing to the prizes.