Well I suspected the weather might decide to rain on our parade, although in the event it also snowed on it. However, we still achieved a turnout of 8 boats, which is pretty good for a cold and windy day in Feb. If you were wearing the right stuff, the cold didn't really matter - in my case the right stuff was a new drysuit from David Rowe and 3 thermal layers underneath, plus 2 woolly hats. It worked well.
Out at the start, Gordon and Bryan capsized 3 times before the gun went, and packed up, whereas Pete and Ellie only capsized the once and carried on. The course was dull - a beat, 2 runs and a close reach, and Peter and Paul demonstrated their massive superiority in the face of this while Paul and I stayed just ahead of everyone else. Paul & Ian were overtaken for 3rd place by Colin & Karen on the last run.
In the afternoon, Eleanor & Richard took up the essential duty of hassling Peter & Paul, leaving the rest of us to fight it out for 3rd place. The course was more interesting, even if it still had no decent 3-sail reaches, and places were lost by people who tried to fly the kite on the too-close bits. Colin & Karen fell prey to the leg from K to N, and we lost a bit attempting the kite from P to K. We had to do some further catching up after Paul dropped both his woolly hats in the water and we went back to rescue them. In the end, we deprived Paul & Ian of 3rd place on the last run and gained the subject of a decent rules discussion for the bar afterwards while we did so. Next week promises to be warmer, maybe 12 degrees or so, and maybe there will be some excellent 3-sail reaches too.
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