Reading Sailing Club Members

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‘New member looking to buy Topper complete with Sail, cover and launching trolley – contact Paul on 0788 4471300 or email ‘paulrobinsonnet@hotmail.com’

Did you bring the digestives Simon.

With an 8-10 mph SW wind, Simon Bray and team set a first beat up to 5 with 21 boats on the start line. Before the start Chris A decided to wash his sail and himself as part of his pre-race rigging. (testing the water as they say!)
Karen led on the first lap closely followed by Steve S in his Solo, then Richard S and Rod B both in Lasers. On the second lap the two leaders were the same but Curtis, Laser, had moved up from 6th to 3rd and Ken P, Laser, had moved from 11th to 6th (how did he do that!). Eddie B had decided one lap was enough for him and as Simon had set a fairly long course the third lap was also the last lap, so Paul W, Oswin and John C were given the finish gun at the end of the second lap.
At the front of the fleet Curtis and Rod B had managed to get past Steve with Ken P moving up to 5th.
Behind the leading group Mike A, James P and Phil A had a great battle trading places throughout the race. At one point Sally & Stuart caught up with Mike, but Sally declined to take water at No 4 and gybed back round behind Mike. What a star, most people would have barged in given half a chance, never mind an invitation.
Mike C and Chris A had a close race in their Solos with Dave I, Radial, chasing them after a bad start,
and Adrian getting involved with not enough wind to get the best out of the Vago.
Mike C got ahead at the finish, Chris explained he was carrying too much ballast from his pre-race routine. Alice M was our only young sailor out today finishing just behind Chris.
The final placings on the water were – 1st Karen, Laser; 2nd Curtis, Laser; 3rd Rod B, Laser, but on handicap Steve S, Solo, was close enough to take 2nd place and push Rod off the podium (if there was a podium!)

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A 10 mph wind from the South West gave Dean and his team the relative luxury of a bank start and 15 boats set out on the start gun.
Karen got her usual cracking start and led from start to finish (as usual again !). Dave L came through the first lap in 2nd place followed by Dave C and Curtis, all in Lasers. By the end of the second lap Curtis had managed to nudge past Dave C and held on to this 3rd place behind Karen and Dave L to the finish.
Behind this leading group of Lasers there was a tussle between Mike A in his Lightning and Chris A and Julian in Solos, with Julian coming through to win this particular battle.
Bob in granddaughter Charlotte’s Laser and Monica in the pink machine disappeared after one lap, but did turn up for supper later. Nick Jones in the Radial went on Lap 3 and Peter R in the Enterprise was unfortunate as he thought the race was being finished at the end of Lap 3 and pulled off only to find everyone else was carrying on ! In fact the wind got quite frisky during the last two laps and quite a number would have opted for three laps instead of four, especially when the weed lifted your rudder !
Lower down the fleet there was a motley crew battling away with Hugh–Byte, Sally & Stuart – Leader, Mike T-Laser and Paul H-Supernova changing places; with the Leader leading this squadron at the finish.
The finishing places on the water were 1st Karen, 2nd Dave L, 3rd Curtis, but on handicap Julian squeezed in between Karen and Dave L.
It was interesting to see how close on handicap the following boats were – with 4th place Curtis followed by Chris A + 8 sec, David C + 9 sec and Mike A + 13 sec, so only 13 sec between 4th and 7th in a race just over the hour !

SOOD Adrian Frost and team had a difficult start to set with the wind coming from NE at 10-11 mph.
The first beat was up to 6 and with 21 boats the start line was quite crowded, after 6 it was 9, 5, 3, 2, 8 and back through the start line and at the end of the first lap Dave L came through first followed by Ian C and Karen.
By Lap 3 Ian C had taken the lead from Dave L and held it to the finish with Dave hanging on to second place on the water. Meanwhile Karen had been overtaken on Lap 5 by Ken P then Newton and Roz, and then on the last lap by a fast finishing Steve P in his 505.
Newton and Roz had gradually worked their way through the fleet from 9th on the first lap to 3rd at the finish. The other notable mover through the fleet was Steve P who came from 8th on the first lap to 5th at the finish.
In the middle of the fleet there was quite a battle between Nev & Sally (she gets around!) in the Leader and Rod B, James P, Phil A and Sylvia in Lasers and Mike C in his Solo, with Rod B finally getting to the fore.
There was a near miss when Mick G got stuck in a patch of weed and was nearly taken out by James P then Nev & Sally who all approached on starboard expecting Mick to move when he was stuck fast!
Monica, Mick G, Dave I and Gordon P all decided to retire on the 3rd lap, but Oswin, Laser; John C, Topaz and Paul D, Radial, persevered to get the finish gun.
The final placings on the water were 1st Ian C, Supernova; 2nd, Dave L, Laser; 3rd Newton & Roz, Laser 2000, but on handicap these positions will probably be reversed with Newton & Roz taking the final honours.

Another lovely summer evening with a typical light wind, but once out near the buoy line the wind was actually stronger than it looked from shore. Bob L  stepped in as SOOD at the last minute and set an interesting sausage course, (but not as good as the pasta course provided by Geesje later!)
First mark was X followed by 4 down wind and back through the start to X.  No excuse for anyone missing a mark in this race, although Monica did accuse Julian of doing just that!
Karen was first round the first mark followed by Curtis, Ian and Julian, and Karen stayed ahead for the rest of the race. Ian moved up to 2nd place on the second lap with Curtis 3rd and Julian 4th. Curtis and Julian battled for the rest of the race with Julian taking 3rd place on the fourth lap and holding it to the finish. 
The battle of the Lasers (behind Karen) was won by Curtis with Dave L next followed by Rod B. The battle of the non-Lasers (behind Ian) was won of course by Julian in his Solo, followed by Mike A, Lightning, and Monica, Europe.
The only two-man boat out was Sally and Stuart in the Leader (by name but not by nature!), they were accompanied by Phil M in his Solo for two laps and then they all decided to come in for an early supper. Hugh persisted in his Byte for four laps and was relieved to get the gun without having to do the final lap and then he put his boat away in record time to make sure of his place at the table!