What a nice bunch of people the X’s are. A lovely last Wednesday evening meal together. Four boats in the end went in strong winds with the rules changed- I think the first boat round the mark went to the back of the queue no one obeyed the rules and I heard that 186 went round twice anyway over dinner it was decided 151 must have won not sure why but with 55, 80 and 186 in the lead 151, I guess the last one, came first- well something like that -after food and wine who cares! Many thanks to Roger Yeoman, Stephen Hart and Robin Wootten for running the final race of the season.
Report from David McG on Saturdays outing in very strong winds
9 XODs and 3 Swallows braved the conditions. Only one Swallow finished. The race officer did an amazing job by using a Laid Mark near Park. This meant it was a proper beat but few tactical options. The course was 4 laps of the Laid Mark to Itchenor which was shortened to 3. For the first 2 laps there was little choice but to short tack up the Itchenor shore which some did better than others. Alistair Shaw was practising for the West Sussex Precision Ploughing competition, managing to run aground four times. Thankfully Jonathan Clark is tall enough not to need a snorkel when pushing the boat off. Remarkably X186 recovered from their beaching’s to finish 2nd. X50 proved that a conservative mid-line start, not getting too close to the edges and keeping everything simple works well when it’s blowing over 25 knots. Downwind was lots of fun and far too short. I think my helmsman disagrees! Congratulations to everyone who raced including X152 who found out it is time to buy a new jib. The XOD fleet obviously have more Viking Spirit than the other fleets. Everyone decided that the afternoon race was unnecessary so retired to the bar and the news that Japan had beaten Ireland – sorry Chris.
The falling leaf and Autumn Trophy start this weekend - bad news for sailors as its a sign that the racing is coming to end for this season