Dear All,
Just Martin, Peter and I had a lovely morning at Abbey Meads on Saturday despite the variable light northerly breeze, because it was warm, it was sunny and most importantly there was none of the forecast rain. It would have been good if Peter Dunne’s invitation to Woking members had borne fruit, but they didn’t take up the invitation to sail at Abbey Meads despite having their weekend meeting abandoned because of a conflicting event.
When we arrived our circular padlock on the gate had been tampered with, but its use was not damaged. We need to be wary that this or something more serious might happen again. The 2nd thing we encountered were thousands of ants who obviously have a nest outside our container and these ants including flying ants absolutely covered the 8 ft square front elevation. As the wind was northerly we set up on the West Bank for the first time since the mound had been flattened and despite the lack of rain there was a bit of grass growing there. However to our great surprise the grass had been cut all around the edge of the lake. see Gallery for photo’s.
The water level was extremely low and we had to lower the landing stage to more or less the very bottom of the steps before getting the inflatable boat in the water and setting a short windward leeward course, before starting sailing. We sailed 9 races with Martin and I having the same score with the tide being broken in favour of Martin. Who won the last race. Unfortunately, the Nicklin Trophy was not available, so Martin was presented with the mini Nicklin Trophy as his temporary prize. Peter got his boat trimmed really well and did win one of the races as well as getting 3 second 2nd places and learnt a few things about sailing the course. Martin was pleased to win the event and was sailing with his short fin and 3.2 kg ballast. I was pleased to match his speed with my new latest and longest Wonderfin with a 3.467 kg ballast. I also tested a revision of my 10 rater rig and it appeared to sailed just as well of the original. Let’s hope that we get more support for the Members trophy on Saturday, 8 June.
Our next event is WoW! event 4, this coming Wednesday and so again GMYC member support is required, as I don’t fancy doing the setting up etc on my own. Please ring me if you can help, thanks. The invitation which will go out to all M&S clubs is attached for your information.
Cheers, Roger
