It was a beautiful day with sunshine and a nice little breeze from the north-east, but what was disappointing was that despite the email confirming this event, only Martin, Charles and Roger turned up. Initially we used the time to mend the inflatable floor of the rubber dinghy, which had been nibbled by a mouse, which was still in the boat when we got it out of the clubhouse! We put a patch over the hole and left the special glue to cure properly and used the boat without the inflatable floor.
Martin explained his design for the removable landing stage and Roger took away part of the cut-off sections to make good the securing strap, which failed when it was last used. We also discussed the moulded corner sections to support aluminium scaffold poles, which Roger is going to make We assembled a couple of buoys and weights to replace those that were missing from the southern area of the lake, but decided to use the west bank to provide a better course for the northerly wind direction.
We launched the DF 95s and BOTTLE boat from the bottom of the steps without a problem, but soon found the weed! Whilst it was not sticking up out of the water, there were straggly bits on the course towards the north. We attempted to sail 3 races with our ambition to get to the windward mark and back! Each of us achieved this once and Charles was the most successful at avoiding the weed by doing this twice.
We discussed the rest of the season and it is clear that we will not be able to sail at Abbey Meads in the current conditions or what may be worse in the next month or so. It is clear that GMYC should really re-set our programme to next test the lake in November to avoid the worst of the weed in October.
So the sailing programme could be returning on Wednesday the 4th and 18th November with the small boats and if conditions are good possibly racing Marbleheads for the Hydonia on Saturday the 21st. We might continue the fortnightly DF 95 meetings on Wednesday the 2nd December in preparation for running the BRASS MONKEY on the 12th. All this assumes that Government Regulations don’t restrict our freedom even more.
There is also the question of our AGM and whether we should book our usual room at the Victoria Hall, Ash as a one-off at some convenient time.
The committee would YOUR response to these suggestions……….
You are aware of Roger’s involvement in the new book ‘Waldringfield, a Suffolk Village beside the River Deben, from a previous email and he thanks all those who have supported and purchased this book and helped to keep the cost down to £20, assuming it is ordered before the launch date of 29 September. It is worth opening the Waldringfield History Group website, https//waldringfieldhistorygroup.fws.store for details or if only for the stunning pictures on this online bookshop.
With the Government Regulations now restricting gatherings to only 6, this has thrown the book launch day into disarray, as 3 groups of 30 that were planned cannot now happen. Roger has come up with a crazy idea to actually launch ‘the book’ on the River Deben and has created two ‘book cover wingsails’ to power his ICE and WONKY Footys to have something to gain publicity at the book launch. These had their second test after the ‘racing’ at Abbey Meads with Martin and Charles kindly sailing them to allow Roger to take photos. Attached is the PDF shows that, although it may be bonkers the ‘rig’ on these Footys do allow them to sail well, just as if were powered by the normal swing rig.
