Inter-fleet championships

And another excellent day for the IFC. Enough sunshine that I got mild sunburn, enough wind to make it interesting, enough shiftiness that anything could happen; port biased lines became starboard biased, the wind went away for periods of up to 5 minutes and then came back again in a big lump, fortunes were won and lost on a roll of the dice.

And, as always, another chance to enjoy a great practical demonstration of all the reasons why you wouldn't ever want to buy a Laser Vago ever.

Here in the Fireball fleet we were a bit short of good sailors, partly because a lot of our 'team' had buggered off to the S. coast for the weekend and partly because we're always a bit short of good sailors. A rallying call brought in 8 team members by 11 am, giving team organiser Helen great cause for concern. This swelled to 13 by lunch. Overall 14 people (including Helen) took part (Paul Roe, John Tenney, Kris, Richard Botting, Mike Deane, Colin Snowdon, Richard Glen, Graham Gittings, Teresa Tonks, Alex Filmore, Graham Collett and Ian McWhinnie (on loan from the menagerie fleet).

IFC newbie Graham Gittins demonstrated some skill in everything he sailed and gets the 'unexpectedly great' award. We were also aided and abetted by crews Theresa and Kris, both of whom were new to the IFC and showed great skill at doing crew things at the front of dodgy boats while the bloke at the back got it wrong - invaluable for year round Fireballing.

Colin Snowdon gets the "Longest legs in a Pico" award.

The "How did they do that, and why?" award for the only capsize of the day goes to Richard Glen and crew Paul Roe in a Firefly - very 'tippy' was the verdict. Somewhat redeemed in the afternooon when Richard managed a second

Making good on our promise to put the heaviest sailors into the smallest boats, the best 'going sideways when trying to make the windward mark' award goes to Bob Morris and Ian McWhinnine in a Vago - checking numerous times to see if the centreboard was down (or even in the boat!)

Biggest losers award: Paul Roe (helm) and crew Graham Collett who dropped from 2nd place to 5th when tacking for the finish line. Blamed it on 'no wind behind the committee boat'.

But at the end of the day, we were all winners. Another excellent event, lots of tired children and parents and sailors. Really good, a credit to the club!

Many thanks to the huge pile of volunteers and organisers without whom it would not be possible.