Sailing

Low water, low turn-outs

Generally last Sunday's sailing was notable for a shade too much wind and, more seriously, too little water, at any rate in the rivers where the lowest tide of the season was manifest.

Snowflakes decided to sail two races upstream to Salhouse rather than face the full blast of the moderate to fresh winds at St Benets and downstream.

Accordingly five intrepid Yeomans set out to race for the Greenhill Trophy. Peter Marriott and Bob McKeen were first way and enjoyed a good beat up to the Mill, but shortly afterwards ran aground near Cator's boatshed and briefly lost out to Bernie Westgate and Andy Fryer.

However, they sorted themselves out and duly regained the lead, finishing in that order.

The second race, for the Bees Autumn Trophy, saw Q Stewart and Janet Goodman sweep into an unassailable lead and hold it throughout. The only pity was the low turnout.

Frostbites likewise suffered from low water and turnout - in fact the latter was probably just as well in view of the former.

With regular shipmate Kate Mackley pre-occupied with house moving David recruited Marion Bown for the class race and they always looked comfortable against Nigel and Abi Shipley, who might have done better if they hadn't found several of the shallows. The handicap race saw Mackley, now crewed by Fiona Elliott, again in front, but his 67 second lead over Wendy Bush and Ray Johnson was nowhere near enough when race officer Paul Tegerdine got his abacus out to calculate the handicap. But it did suffice to keep the Shipleys, third over the line, in third. The handicaps must be fairly spot on as the elapsed time between first and last was under two minutes.

On Hickling it was the wind rather than water which limited the entries. The punts for the main part stayed ashore, and those that did venture out quickly decided that the force 4 gusting to force 7 winds constituted a risk of damage which the event did not justify. However, the less vulnerable boats reveled in the challenge, Jordan Rumsby winning all his three races in his laser Radial, with Jim and Robyn Rosser, despite constantly looking on the verge of becoming airborne in their RS400, taking three second places. The final race went to Peter Dearnley and Chris Tuckett who, I am told, made it all look rather easy in their Wayfarer.

This Sunday Rollesby host a Double-Hander Open including an Enterprise Woodcock Salver event, and WOBYC start their winter season. The next scheduled Open meeting is on November 15, for Yeomans at Snowflakes.