Workparty, Pirates and Campsail

WORKPARTY, PIRATES AND CAMP SAIL WEEK END 1st,2nd and 3rd Sept.
At Tracey’s suggestion the camp sail started on Friday afternoon, with 16 campers enjoying a fish and chip candle lit supper on the deck and of course plenty of liquid refreshment! It was Alice’s birthday and a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday Alice, as there was cake, left over from the Pirates last Thurs session the previous day, where there had been thanks, an Indian meal voucher, flowers and champagne for Carole and Gary and wine for Don for his unstinting power boat driving all summer.
While the ‘oldies’ moved into the clubhouse the youngsters, having collected some wood, enjoyed fun and games around a huge fire.
Next day it was off to work after a breakfast of bacon rolls with all the trimmings, Pink Fleet style!! Pot holes filled in, overgrown areas cleared, clubhouse cleaned, even cobwebs off the deck roof hoovered up – well done Alisdair – edges along the slipway cut back and positively manicured, well done Fran, Tracey and Jonathan. A total of 41 people turned up to do their ‘bit’ – windows cleaned, oven and BBQ grills scrubbed – thank you to everyone who came and to the girls who kept them supplied with refreshments all morning.
Then it was a quick lunch and time for
Pirates. After the usual briefing from Gary some 25 youngsters took to the water in Oppies, Toppers, Picos and because the age limit of 20yrs was ‘lifted’ for the day, some oldies were allowed to join in – the commodore and his lady in their Enterprise, Brian and Richard in their recently refurbished Enterprise as well, not to mention Monica in her Europe, who turned into one of the games….’catch Monica…’fortunately the wind filled in and she was able to keep away. The it was off to the island to hunt for the Pirate treasure. The wind really strengthened giving David, Andrew and Robert some real sport and some great entertainment for those on the deck enjoying their first glasses of the evening – great to have Sarah back with us.
While all this was happening on the water, Barbara with a band of helpers was in the galley preparing a feast of salads and chicken and Simon, Hugh and there helpers were struggling to get the BBQ going…!!!
We all had a wonderful evening, loads to eat and drink – again the youngsters had collected wood and another old mirror to have a huge fire, where some of the oldies drifted to as the chilly wind lasted into the evening.
After all the efforts of the day, the campers retired relatively early at about 2300……Hugh’s hammock worked a treat!
Many thanks to everyone who made it such a great day and to Rupe for being up early to cook breakfast for 34 of us on Sunday morning before the Sunday racers arrived. Another great week end at RSC!!!!

Summer 10 – Racing Report and Lex Cup – Racing Report

Sunday’s race saw the SOOD Mike trying to use every mark on the lake to entertain the 18 racers, plus a shortish line……lots of crossing of courses up and down the lake. Chris in his Firefly made the perfect start and then seemed to disappear…..what happened Chris?
 
It was a steady wind, a splash or two of rain, but a fun race – well Lynne and Steve seemed to be having a lot of fun with their spinnaker….the results were:
 
1st Ian in his Supanova, followed by Chris in his Laser and Roger, who though arriving and starting late,as always, just ploughed his way through the fleet to finish in 3rd – what a ‘jammy’ devil he is!!!

 
Bank Holiday Monday – the Lex Cup. Not so many sailors were ‘allowed out to play’ – family stuff and all that…..Eddie and his team again tried to fit in every mark on the lake, with an enormous starting line for the 9 racers, even choosing the ‘windless’ bouy 1, where lots of chopping and changing of places took place. Little Adrian sailed the perfect race and led till the last mark when he had to give water to Ian and in doing so let Steve and Chris through as well………poor Adrian. Finishing places were 1st Ian, 2nd Chris, 3rd Steve….welcome back, we have missed you……oh yes, Monica discovered one of the advantages of being last was that you got to finish a lap before everyone else, nice one Monica!!
 
A LARGE technical hitch, ie Jolly Sailor couldn’t download any pictures…but watch this space….they will appear in their hundreds very soon…??!!
 

RYA training

Sat 25th August saw 10 lucky girls / ladies having a day’s coaching with Vicki, an RYA coach from Queen Mary training centre. In the preceding days we were anxious about the weather, forecast to be very wet and very windy….in the event we had a great day on and off the water in various boats……a Sport 14, a Leader, a Mirror, a Europe, several Toppers and a couple of Lasers.
We sailed a triangular course with everyone receiving individual coaching, concentrating on the 5 essentials, which we had gone through before taking to the water.
During the lunch break, we were able to ask questions and ‘address’ all our individual problems – Vicki was brilliant and had all the answers.
In the afternoon the wind really increased but most of us took to the water again to practice starting and sailing a lap. There were quite a few capsizes, with Fran entertaining us by throwing herself out of the Leader …….we think Tracey gave her a push??!!
It was a great day, thank you so much Vicki for all your patience and tips on how to go faster and beat those ‘boys’ – also thank you to Brian and the other power boat drivers who helped us.

Pirates Rule the lake

 
PIRATES meet and sail every Thursday regardless of holidays….and last week was no exception with yet again 25 youngsters on the water in a selection of Toppers, with and without sails, and Picos, with and without bungs! The competition for “water in the hull” was close between the sunken Topper and the sinking Pico. From the squeals of laughter the Mums and Dads, preferring to watch from the deck, were not sure who was having the most fun, Gary or his proteges……..!!???we have one more Pirates next Thurs, then Camp sail, 1st Sept which includes an afternoon for Pirates.
Pirates has been a great success all summer despite the appalling weather Thursdays always seem to bring, with numbers of keen youngsters ranging from 14 – 39 in numbers since the first Pirates in April.
Special thanks to our team of dedicated helpers, power boat drivers, ‘floor moppers’, chocolate makers, in fact ‘Uncle Tom Cobley and all.’ Thanks too go to Monica who keeps us all in line.
Pirates would not happen without all the support – Don you have been a diamond – new modern word I am told for Star….!? – we have had a wonderful time, even the gossiping Mums in the Galley and of course without Carole and Gary, there would be no Pirates at all – a big thank you to one and all.
Pirates Rule the lake

You are invited to view Tracey’s album. This album has 7 files.
 

19.08.12

 
We were going to have an intersting race today. the wind kept on changing and appearing and disappearing like a rabbit in a top hat! 
 
The start of the race was delayed until everyone had reached the start line.  The S.O.O.D. had wish he had the camera , the whole fleet had reaced the start line at the same time, it was a lovely sight!  
 
So the countdown sequence had began, which side of the line is best.  Some sailors noted the island was shielding the wind from that part of the line nearest Tectona. So the other end was the best. The start gun went and of course the wind switched and the island end was the best and those down there just sailed away. Jon in his Entertprise caught and lovely puff of wind and overtook half the fleet, was this going to be his race, unfortunately it wasnt! Monica had problems at the 2nd bouy again half the fleet overtook her whilst she was trying to get her boat moving unfortunately for her she just stopped!
 
Peter in his Enterprise with Mike and Sally in their Leader took an early lead. The rest of us were left in their wake! Were we going to catch them up?  well yes because anything can happen in this race. mike , sally and Peter had some close sailing together , who was going to break first?????????  Peter drifted onto the bouy and had to do a 360 degree turn!  to make thing worse he just stopped and was going backwards at one point.
 
The dark horses in this race were Dave I  and Mike in their Lasers the quietly went through the fleet and crossed the line . the Jolly Sailor has noticed Mike is quite an expert in sailing in light winds!  He needs to tell us what his secret is!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
So the final postions were 
 
 
1st Mike,  2nd Dave, 3rd  Roger
 
Pink Fleet Summer BBQ 

A different format this month with the day starting with the 1100 race and 25 very keen ‘Pinkies’ taking to the water after a magnificent briefing from Ken – despite the fact that he used the wrong flags…..poor Richard ended up in the Topper while the girls had the Comet and the Laser!!! It was a challenging strong shifty wind but that did not deter our leader from setting a course from Tektona with 2 gybe marks. Those who capsized were many and we are nnot sure if it was the wind, bad judgement on just to cool off….what a hot sunny day it was. 
While the Pinkies were enjoying the cooling breeze, both Barbaras were hard at it in the kitchen preparing the lunch, setting up tressle tables with Brian’s help. 
 The BBQ was lit ably and watched over by Hugh and Dion our own professional chef hoping to enjoy a week end off…thanks guys, the food was superbly cooked and quite delicious.The sangria disappeared at great speed and was much enjoyed, thanks Jan. Ken had full complement of power boat drivers who were kept busy most of the race. The standard of sailing seemed to be higher that ever and the much coveted Pink Fleet cup went to young William in his Topper – well done William. A big thank you to everyone who helped in any way, shopping, cooking and the never ending clearing up. 

Almost as soon as we had all finished lunch it was PIRATE TIME, with 28 youngsters taking to the water in various crafts, surf boards, kayaks, Oppies, Toppers, Picos and even 3 Lasers! Our young people are getting very adventurous…..Gary had plenty of power boat help to keep a close eye on the ‘little darlings’ while the Mums and Dads continued to enjoy the sun and sangria!!! They all had a lot of fun under Gary and Carole’s supervision and no one seemed in a hurry to go, one of the so few glorious Saturdays this year. 
Again thanks to every one who makes these events possible – despite the heat hot chocolate was still required….. 
 NBThe next Saturday Pirates has been brought forward a week to 1st Sept, to coincide with the Camp Sail week end. 

These days are much enjoyed by all, and we all appreciate the hard wok that everyone puts in to get these events organised and particularly cleared up at the end of the day. If you feel you could volunteer to help for future events it would be much appreciated.

Aug Work Party

WORK PARTY
We had a reasonable turn out for the work party yesterday, considering a lot of people are away on their hols. A lot more of the holes in the road were filled, thanks to Curtis bringing us trailer loads of grit – edges were trimmed. areas cleared and thanks to Ken’s 2 trainees doing their powerboat level 2 course, Tektona got towed in and had a really got scrub – well done Alice and Louise.
Despite Monica’s coffee being appreciated, the tea drinkers were of ‘one mind’…….she can’t make builders tea!!!
Thank you to everyone who came and did their bit – there’s still plenty still on the list for 1st Sept.
Ken’s trainees, Ian and Andy got some practice with a couple of rescues in the afternoon, when some brave soles took to the water for a quick blast / swim!! They both passed with ‘flying colours,’ well done boys and thanks to Ken for giving up 2 days to train them.

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