Month: June 2018

Saturday’s race participants faced strong tides and winds gusting over 30 knots for the passage race to Lymington. This resulted in a couple of boats pulling out (some crewing on other boats and some coming by car. However, this still produced an exciting race with the alpha fleet sticking quite close together from beginning to end and position changes on the water most of the way to the end which included a hard beat to windward in the western Solent then a shorter leg directly downwind.
Then it was party time on the pontoon to celebrate the Commodore and Commodorable’s 40th wedding anniversary. This was with pink bubbly – made extra bubbly by the bumpy passage resulting in the corks going a long way! Then off to the Royal Lymington YC for an excellent dinner.

Sunday’s race returning from Lymington was predicted to be almost as windy but we started with a short beat to windward against the tide and then a single long downwind leg back to Chi. On the long leg some managed to carry downwind sails the whole way while others wrestled them down as the wind built. Three hours for most from Lymington to Chi which included 30 mins of beating the other way shows the speed we achieved.

The weekend’s CCRC mini-series of races included one race on Saturday and two on Sunday with many attending a sociable barbecue at Northney on the Saturday night.
Saturday’s race was appropriately BBQ sausage shaped producing a long reach (aided for most by some downwind sails) and a beat/fetch depending on how close each could get to the wind.
Sunday’s first race was a short triangle speedily executed, but the second race with more legs was shortened at the first mark as the wind had died to almost nothing – only the fastest and most persistent finished.

Wednesday was the last day of the CCRC Spring Cruise. Some went to play golf while others toured other tourist venues including the Guernsey Museum at Candie with some special exhibits. Arcadia also arrived having “seen off” the rest of the family.
That evening it was the end of cruise dinner at the Guernsey Yacht Club where we had a super meal in convivial surroundings and thanked Stuart and Judi for leading the cruise.

Today was another day for sailing onwards – this time to St Peter Port. We left with good visibility and a gentle breeze on the beam but by the time we got to Guernsey fog had descended again so we barely saw the top of the Little Russel. Sailing down the channel we saw the Swan fleet racing and watched Markova execute a perfect spinnaker gybe. Then it was into St Peter Port for some socialising while waiting for access to the marina.
That evening Egret, Gunshot and Intrepid ate on Gunshot with a meal prepared on all three boats.