Weston 60th Anniversary and Jubilee celebration weekend

With racing due to start on Sunday, Saturday saw team Ronin (the PJs) and team EJ (for the weekend Dave and Hayley) arrive. There was some boat bimbling and tent pitching - or in the PJs’ case major marquee erection.

Sunday saw five cherubs on the water, Ronin, Usagi, EJ, Subtle Knife and Atum Bom. Usagi suffered a kite rip and so didn't make the first start – a reminder of just how sharp Jill and Andy’s bow is, in case anyone was thinking of getting in the way…. There was some close racing between Ronin and Subtle with Clive and Alex in Subtle winning out as the PJs experimented with some new kit. EJ and Atum exchanged places a few times as each went for the sympathy capsize having overtaken the other. Despite binning it in on the “death or glory” final run (“we can’t really carry the kite but we will anyway”) Ben and Sam in Atum crossed the line first. Usagi showed great pace in the second race winning comfortably with the spare kite.

EJ had suffered from a major loss of rig tension as her mast foot settled in the stump and showed no sign of wanting to stop its journey south, so a new foot was fitted overnight with consummate (ch)ease courtesy of Wallace and Grommit enterprises*

The evening’s entertainment was a night at the races. Or at least a man with a microphone, a DVD player and some DVDs of horse racing. Sam cleaned up, backing three winners, but didn’t manage the pink fluffy teddy bear which appropriately found its way to a small child. The PJs' party tent came into its own playing host to a post-betting Chinese takeaway.

The wind decided to play some silly games on Monday, shifting around and hitting the stop button at will. Usagi surged ahead taking the first race, but in the flukey conditions found that a bit of luck also helps; having had a considerable lead they found themselves becalmed whilst Ronin twinned by to take the second race.

On Monday evening Roland arrived and, being the only one who hadn't partaken of the afternoon's heady mix of Pimms and the Atumist’s keg of real ale, taxied everyone to Hamble. It was apparent on arrival at the King and Queen that here at least the Jubilee was in full swing. As Sam was forcibly separated from his beer and swung onto the dance floor by a celebrating sexagenarian (narrowly avoiding the Tom Kiddle grab-a-granny award) food seemed out of the question. Luckily the next door Thai offered a solution, if not the fastest service, where we also bumped into Ian Christie, former owner of Suicide Blond. After a long but entertaining walk back to the tents, most people were out for the count and only one or two noticed the 5am trumpeted arrival of the 3 Queens.

Tuesday dawned looking breezy. Despite the jubilee of a hangover, everyone went for the first race, Usagi and Subtle opting for smaller rigs. Atum showed great speed at times but the corners caused a few dunkings. EJ flew off the line late and caught up with the others before realising she was missing her bungs and that bearing away full of water was not easy. So team EJ retired, happy knowing she is back on track and showing some serious speed potential.

The wind continued to build in the break between races and the rain was incessant. Peter and Alex deserve a lot of credit for persuading their damp and reluctant dads to go out for the second race. Alex's words went something like, “come on dad, have some chocolate, we're going sailing”. It seemed to work. The Atumists went for it as well, while team Usagi opted to dry out. Paul and Peter unfortunately had a problem with the stays on their new mast and were forced to call it a day. Clive and Alex soldiered on to the finish like absolute heroes with 49ers, 800s and 14s falling all around them. Huge respect.

Bring on the rest of the season, it’s going to be a cracker!

*See the member’s area of the forum for more details