The Glasson Sailing Club 2004 Regatta

Saturday 28th, Sunday 29th & 30th August - 4 out of 6 Races Counted

I think I can say that this was one of our best Regattas for some time.

There were at least 18 racing dinghies, 17 of which took to the water, and 7 cruisers. This was despite horrendous winds on the Sunday and similar on the Monday.

Every morning before 0700 hours Steve Jones was up making sandwiches for the racing, and anyone, and up to 0900 hours bacon butties. He was helped at various times by Peter and Ann.

Saturday's Patrol Boat was manned by Jeff Walker and ? Sunday and Monday it was manned by Ivan Haslam and others.

OODs were Frank Bamber, most of the time, Giles Stothert on Sunday - Dinghies. Alan Fleetwood and John Broadhead - Cruisers

Our Social Secretary, Ann Holden organised a Treasure Hunt for the children, which they thoroughly enjoyed, they begged for another one when they'd finished!

The winner was David Sharples, Suzi, closely followed by James Lambert, Phoenix, 2nd and Rebecca Sharples, Suzi, was third.

Ann had created clues the answers to which were boat names. The children had to solve the clue and find the boat on the boat park. The boats in the hunt all had letters of the alphabet on them which the children then filled into the correct suare on a grid, which evntually spelled "Skull and Crossbones. Well done Ann!

Ann also held a quiz, a geography quiz, devised by herself, on Saturday night, in which every question had two points, an answer to the question and a mark on the world map provided to show where it was.

The winner of the quiz were the combined Kerry Girl & Chablis boats with friends, second were the Nil Points team, Nyoka & Osprey & others? - we sat next to them but my memory and notes can't recall.

Big John once again provided the musical entertainment on Sunday night with Patrick Walsh, Alex Ratcliffe (aka Hank Marvin) and Peter Gardner (aka Elvis Pressley) assisting.

There was a Boules competition started on Saturday afternoon, postponed because of the wind on Sunday afternoon and sadly it was unable to be finished because most of the finalist went home very early to miss the traffic on Monday.

Sue and I were defeated by the Salty Fiddlers, Tom and Irene Riley who went on the defeat Rice Pudding and Billy Ruffian, Norman and Slippers, on Sunday, winingthe competition by default as, Angela & Bill, Peter & Ann and Jeff & Linda had all withdrawn, i.e. gone home.

The weather was fair on Saturday, force 4 gusting 5/6 winds from the west, roughly. This gave very exciting racing and numerous capsizes amongst the dinghies. It was ideal for the cruisers!

Sunday was still fair but the wind was considerably stronger, possibly too strong for the dinghies but after a delay, several of them attempted to race. The course fo the cruisers was shortened to round No. 8 buoy as it was thought the seas round the lighthouse would make it difficult for the smaller cruisers. However the strong winds seemed to suit Suzi who challenged for first oplace coming second to Rice Pudding, who won despite her handicap having been reduced. As Rice Pudding crossed the line her goose-neck snapped off, phew what would have it been like out at sea. Brian Kerry, Kerry Girl, 'volunteered' to give up the rest of the day and made a new fitting so that Norman and crew could race again on Monday.

Sunday evening produced more drama in the dock. One of the sluices had stuck open and the water was leaking out at an alarming rate. We checked the boats at around 2200 hours, Dave Lowther and I, and everything seemed to be ok. The dock would fill up again at high water before it got too low. A big stel boat was set to tiopple on Rice Pudding! Myfoe could have leaned on Nyoka too! 0700 hours Monday morning and there was activity round the gate but most of the water had been allowed to drain out! The Harbour Master assured us it wouldn't get any lower as they had now repaired the broken hydraulic pipe but he did say they had to 'trick' the valve to close the sluice. He wouldn't let us on the boats and fortunately a th water continued to disappear all the boats remained upright, keels having disappeared into the mud and the boats settling upright on their hulls.

By now the wind had eased a little, the conditions were still very challenging for the dinghies but most of them rigged. Several succeeded in starting Monday's races but only a few managed to complete both races. More drama on Rice Pudding, as she crossed the line and started her engine she found that her throttle cable had seized up, that was after anchoring in mid stream outside the dock entrance while he crew diagnosed the trouble, good job no ships were due to come in!

I'm sure there were comparable dramas on the dinghies, hoepfully someone will relate them to me in time for the newsletter.

Dinghy Regatta Results (Table below):

1st Overall and 1st Single-Hander - Alex Stothert - Laser Radial

2nd Overall - Mark Bamber - Laser

3rd Overall - Peter Milston - Toy

4th Overall - Martin Metcalfe - Contender - B & F Y C

1st Crewed Boat - Steve & Peter Jones - Fireball

Cruiser Regatta Results

1st - Norman Whewell, David Holden & Michael Swarbrick - Rice Pudding IX - Dragonfly 920

2nd - John Broadhead, Young Broadhead, David Holmes (Slippers) - Zulu - Jaguar 21

3rd - Ian, Barbara Sharples, David, Rebecca & JEssica Sharples - Suzi - Cobra 700

A great weekend!

Thanks to all those who took part, especially the people mentioned but there are others who I've missed out who also worked hard to make it a success. Sorry if I've left you out

To miss the traffic we, Jaja, Sue and I, stayed over an extra day, Tuesday, best day of the holiday weatherwise!

For more pictures please go to this page

Click on photos for a bigger picture. Click on browser 'back' button to return to main document.

Although it was very windy and conditions a bit scary it is still not acceptable to send dinghies out on their own.
photo by Julie Reid

Steve always maintained that his boat could be taken out in any conditions - but not always sailed.
photo by Julie Reid

Steve and Peter later advised Paul that "keeping the long silver pointy thing pointing upwards, was often a good idea".
photo by Julie Reid

There were easier ways to get the water out of the boat - but these two always enjoyed a challenge.
photo by Julie Reid

Crewing the safety boat was always a good option if you wanted to stay dry.
photo by Julie Reid

When it was very cold Martin would do anything to get out of the wind!
photo by Julie Reid

Two of our visitors, Kevin & Diane Richardson, in their Buzz.
photo by Alan Fleetwood

Alex's dad, Giles, doing well in, well on, his Laser Vortex.
photo by Alan Fleetwood

Championship Points

Osprey

Andy Holmes/Ryan Holmes

s/h

s/h

s/h

Engraving on trophy:

The William Mitchell Challenge Trophy

Presented by The Exors of Wm Mitchell

Presented for:

The Annual Regatta Races. The Club's major Open Event usually held at August Bank holiday Weekend over three days, two races per days. Five out of six to count.

The original trophy was only 'on loan' from Mitchell's brewery and as it was a very valuable tropy, Georgian silver, it was decidied to return it to the owners and ask them to provide us with a replica. They provided a new trophy below, which isn't a replica but a somewhat inferior trophy.

Winners:

1963 R Shaw
1964 W Gardiner
1965 B Crowe
1966 F Peacock & A Jones
1967 lost record
1968 F Peacock
1969 M S Topping & K Atkinson (ESC)
1970 D B Ingham (ESC)
1971 K Atkinson (ESC)
1972 F Peacock
1973 C A Haines (ESC)
1975 J E Showell (ESC)
1976 J E Showell (ESC)
1977 C A & J B Haines (ESC)
1978 C A & J B Haines (ESC)
1979 M Clarke (M&HYC)
1980 D Woodhead
1981 K Atkinson
1982 C A Haines
1983 D Woodhead

Engraving on trophy:

The William Mitchell Challenge Trophy

Presented by The Exors of Wm Mitchell

Presented for:

The Annual Regatta Races. The Club's major Open Event usually held at August Bank holiday Weekend over three days, two races per days. Five out of six to count.

Origin:

Winners:

2003 Mark Fearnley & Chris Spicer - 59er (M&HYC)
2004 Alex Stothert - Laser Radial