Marriage pays dividends for sailors

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This weekend produced a triumph for one husband and wife team as they won both cruiser races. Malcolm and Louise Thomason in their Eventide 26, Kittiwake, carried off the first prize, a bottle of Famous Grouse whisky and a Glasson glass each.

Another successful couple were Anne Bourner and Paul Cassidy who performed creditably in the Sunday dinghy races although they missed the start of the first race. Two boats where matrimonial harmony won the day, Tony Blair would have been proud of them if he hadn't been engrossed in his own embarrassments.

The dinghy trophy was won by Martin Topping and Tony Jamieson, winning all three races after hurried repairs to their boat on Sunday morning, Tony and Lynda unluckily, while practising between races on Saturday, managed to rip the rudder off the transom.

The Club was graced with ideal weather on Saturday and Sunday but some of the enthusiasts would have liked a little more wind on the final day. This was the first regatta to be held at Glasson for over three years, the last regatta being held in 1997. Invitations were sent out to all the local clubs and further afield, some showed an interest although no sailors from other clubs turned up on the day. All races were sailed under PY handicaps, so theoretically we all had an equal chance of winning.

Martin and Jeff rounded up some of our sailors and the first dinghy race of the year took place. Eleven boats overall took part, five dinghies and six cruisers. It was heartening to overhear many of the contestants talking on Sunday evening about how much they had enjoyed the weekend. This was no doubt helped by the Regatta 'Ball' held on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Peter Gardner provided another excellent barbecue, in the galley, it was decided that the fresh breeze might have spoiled the cooking and made it unpleasant for the diners. Very generous and varied foods were on offer and I suspect of a higher quality than we'd have had if it had been outside. Big John gave another of his virtuoso performances and was still playing at 0100 hours on Sunday morning. Peter Gardner again sang, possibly better than the original, some of Elvis's songs and Chris delivered some of her favourite numbers. In between everybody was dancing to John's music.

The briefing took place just after 1200 hours and each entrant, on handing over his £5 entry fee, was presented with a printed pennant, the cruisers being asked to fly them off their backstays to show that they were racing.

There was hardly any breeze on Saturday a morning but by the time the dinghies were rigging on the apron there was a good force 3 blowing with lots of west in it.

The dinghies started first, the cruisers ten minutes later. The dinghy course was three laps round a sequence of racing buoys between the clubhouse and Lades Creek. The cruisers had to leave all the navigation marks on the correct side and race round the lighthouse and back across the starting line outside the OOD box.

Alex and Martin had good starts in the dinghies and Malcolm hit the line at the right speed and time, no doubt contributing to his eventual victory.

As the race progresses the wind increased with spectacular results. Alex and Lynda capsized and after a struggle to get back in their boat they retired exhausted. James. sailing single handed, capsized and although he got his boat up pretty quickly it was full of water and after a few exciting moments drifting down the river he lowered his sails and was assisted back to the slipway. Anne and Maneer, incidentally it was only Maneer's second dinghy race, retired when they were doing well with a broken kicking strap. Meanwhile, whilst Martin was helping Jeff and James recover the GP, Tony and Lynda decided to practice in the 505 and ended up shooting up the opposite bang and ripping the rudder fittings off the transom. Jeff in the safety boat was kept fully occupied.

The cruisers finished and still the second dinghy race hadn't started and by the time we'd sorted out all the dinghies there wasn't enough water left so the second race was abandoned.

Sunday if anything was an even sunnier day and fortunately for me the wind strength was lower than Saturday, the 'experts' would have liked it to have been stronger. As on Saturday the cruisers, same course, started ten minutes after the dinghies who had a different course with the gybe at Lades Creek turned into a tack, even better for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first race, dinghy, we got the spinnaker up on the second lap, giving us an advantage over James in a similar boat, and successfully gibed it for two more legs. Being a slower boat, true we aren't as skilled but the boat is like a 'barge' in Martin's words, we only managed two laps by the time Martin and Tony had done their three. It was the first time Alison and I had raced the GP together and after many anxious moments and tacking round instead of gybing on Saturday we were quite pleased with ourselves after the first race. We made the mistake of, on Martin's recommendation, changing our tactics on gybing the spinnaker, so much so that George (now 'there and back George') who was sailing with James thought we were giving spinnaker knitting lessons. We had a cracking start to the second race until we ran aground at the first mark and took ages to get free, ruining James and George chances whilst we were struggling into the bargain, then we did well to the first spinnaker gybe and from then on it must have provided the spectators with some hilarious entertainment. We managed to go aground again on the second lap and after more spinnaker folding lost the end of the mainsheet, pirouetting crazily until we recovered it and threaded it back. We'd also lost a Genoa sheet towards the end of the first lap. Whilst all this was going on Anne and Paul had sailed a very creditable race to come third in their Gull and James and George had left us well behind. From time to time we saw Martin and Tony flash by and Alex and Lynda.

Whilst all this entertainment was being provided Dave and Alex were having an exciting tussle with Tony and Stephen in the cruiser race, which developed into quite a contest. They both finished on equal points but because Dave and Alex had beaten them on the last race they were given second place, much to the chagrin of Tony and Stephen.

The prizes were presented afterwards by our Vice-President, Kathleen Topping with our Vice Commodore, Martin Topping giving the speech of thanks and presentation.

Cruisers:

1st Malcolm and Louise Thomason, Eventide 26, Kittiwake, bottle of whisky, two Glasson glasses and a club tie

2nd Dave Holmes and Alex Ratcliffe, Vivacity 650, Crouton, a Glasson glass each

3rd Tony Shaw & Stephen Thomkinson, Hurley Signet, Winnie, a Glasson glass each Dinghies,

The William Mitchell Challenge Trophy:

1st Martin Topping & Tony Jamieson, 505, a polo shirt each

2nd Alex Whiteside & Lynda Jamieson, Osprey, Moody Blue, a Glasson glass each

3rd Michael Swarbrick & Alison Rayson, GP14, Whiteboat, a Glasson glass each.

Club ties were given to some of the others as consolation prizes, if you didn't get one and want one please contact me.

The Vice-Commodore, whose job it is to organise the regatta, thanked all the people who had taken part and all the people who had made it possible for the races to take place, Kathleen Topping for doing the OOD duty, Jeff Walker for doing the rescue boat, Alan Fleetwood for assisting on several occasions (he may have helped Jeff in the safety boat on Sunday?), Jim Cruise for being on standby for OOD, Peter Gardner and Alex Ratcliffe for the food, John for the music, Linda Walker and Dennis Marsden for the Bar and many more including the Coastguards who were around in their RIB.

If anyone wants a full set of results I can send them an Excel file.

It was pleasing to see many other members and their friends out on the water on the two days as well as the competitors. If anyone has any pictures I'd be gratefull if you could lend them to me to scan.

If any of you are wondering where our Commodore was he had to go to a wedding (it may have been one of his daughters) and sadly wasn't able to attend.

Another married couple who successfully took part in the Regatta are Alan and Susan Round. They did well in both races. Alan and Susan have sailed in most of the round the light races since they joined the club some years ago, winning some until their handicap was adjusted.

About 24 people actually sailed and, say, another 10 who helped to run it and perhaps a few more who enjoyed watching and the evenings celebrations. A total of about 60 - not counting the people who enjoy Saturday night whether or not there is anything on during the day. We have about 260 people as members or part of family memberships so about 200 didn't get anything from the Regatta.

Is 20% a reasonable total?

I would like the Regatta to be enjoyed by more people, members and non-members alike. For most of those who took part winning was a secondary consideration. Bookmakers wouldn't have accepted bets on Martin and Tony for the dinghies. Of the others only Alex and Lynda had an outside chance of winning. The cruisers are a little bit different because we're unsure of some of the handicaps so some boats set off without much chance. This will right itself with more races as it's possible to adjust the handicaps for both boat speed and crew skill factor. Whether crew skill factor should be allowed for is a contentious issue. I think for most of us taking part with friends was the achievement.

Have any of you any ideas of how the regatta should be organised?

This year was the first year in the Club's history that cruisers have been invited to take part. What kind of events would include more people?

Would twice as many boats add to the spectacle and make it more exciting for the spectators?

Would better prizes encourage a bigger entry?

Should the regatta be self funding or should the Club sponsor the event - ideally we should perhaps attract a sponsor.

Would the less skilled of us take part if it became more competitive?

How many of us would enter Cowes Week?

We'd all be at home in the Falmouth Week though, some 'posh' clubs take part and organise events in that and the value of their prizes was on a par with ours a few years ago.. The advantage of Falmouth Week is that members from seven clubs can actually sail to the start line, no launching and trailing problems there.

Please if you have any views let me know.

Love, Michael