2017 Open Meeting 3 - Isle of Sheppy SC 6/7 May

[JayW]

Yes - count EJ in.
Now wearing the correct sail number of 3206 just to confuse everyone.

[andy_peters]

Dean & Simon will be providing a fuller view of the weekend but a quick synopsis is:

Saturday to windy and wavy for us all (we didn't even leave Sunbury) Crooty no doubt would have given it a go but for everyone else it was a bit too gnarly especially given the onshore wind and waves

I don't know what happened Saturday night other than there was a quiz (see Clive it would have been educational)

Sunday was grey and started off with a half decent wind for 2 races.  Enough to twin wire consistently.  The 3rd race less said about the better.  The wind died to almost nothing, 2 boats got round the 2nd windward mark and reached cross tide downwind without a gybe to the finish.  No wind and Thames tide means no racing so we had a relatively early finish.

1: Usagi
2: Cool Beans
3: Eleanor
4: Shinny
5: EJ

[Hayley_Trim]

I had a great time. First cherub sail of the season, so one day which gave us twin wiring at the back of the bus as well as some foredeck balancing was perfect. Minimal bruises and my muscles aren't screaming too badly. Despite having at least one moment of total muppetry (sorry Dave), I appear not to have been sacked, so we'll be back trying to keep up with that slippery Usagi!

[simon_jones]

The weekend of the 6/7 May saw 5 Cherubs at IOSSC for the 3rd round of the travellers trophy. Saturday dawned bright and breezy, a little too breezy. With wind speeds up to
30mph the fleet decided to keep their powder dry along with their wetsuits, and headed to the bar. Saturday night we were treated to a quiz night and managed a creditable 3rd place.

Sunday morning was overcast but with a steady 12 to 14 mph of wind speed things were definitely looking up for the Cherubs. Andy and Jill managed their usual trick of rocking up
when everyone thought they weren't going to make it. With 4 races planned to make up for the lack of sailing the day before, the fleet was twin wiring for the start.

Race one saw a close fought battle to the first windward mark with the top 3 boats opting for different sides of the course. Usagi and Little Chilli headed along the shore while Eleanor
went out to sea looking for the tide to push them towards the mark. Usagi and Little Chilli both got there ahead of Eleanor (so much for local knowledge).
The run down also saw a split and showed that going above the committee boat to avoid the line was another inspired choice by Andy and Jill. They seem to have lost none of last years speed, finishing ahead of Little Chilli and Eleanor followed by Shiny and E J.

Race two saw much the same as race one until Little Chilli decided to cool things down at the top mark by going for a swim, allowing Eleanor and Shiny to sneak through.
Dave and Hayley recovered well and managed to chase the Shiny Beast down to finish 3rd behind Usagi and Eleanor.

Race three was the complete opposite to Saturday. With the wind dropping it was a slow crawl in the playpen just to try to beat the tide to the windward mark.
Only Usagi and Little Chilli managed it with a frustrated Eleanor getting within feet of it before the wind died to nothing and drifting backwards on the tide.
Sensibly the R/O shortened course for all those who got round and called it a day.

The results were
Usagi
Little Chilli
Eleanor
Shiny Beast
E J