The report of the penultimate event of the Winter Series
When we arrived at Abbey Meads it was a beautiful sunny day, but very little wind. Martin relayed the forecast on his phone that ‘the wind was forecast to be 1 knot gusting to 1 knot from the north-east!’ In the background of the PDF photo of Slieve receiving his Improver’s Trophy, the Gordon Austin Trophy, you can also see that there was very little wind with a faint swell disturbingly the mirror finish of the water surface.
Undeterred, we launched the boats and they were moving, so we raced from the start line sset opposite the west bank steps to the blue marks to the north, as the windward gate and back to the start line, which became the finishing line.
6 races were sailed with a break for coffee after Race 4, which was needed because the level of concentration was immense. You were never quite sure whether your boat was moving and if it was, which tack it was on. Is it moving sideways or backwards were the questions arising from your boat’s movement or lack of movement.
In the first race Roger got away from the start initially with the big lead, but this was whittled down by the chasing pack and amazingly at the finish there was only a few feet difference when crossing the finishing line. The 2nd race belonged to Barrie with Martin 2nd. From then on it was Martin who shone and won the remaining 4 races, which gave him an unassailable lead in the Winter Series without having to compete in the last event WWS 7 on 13 December.
Whilst still sunny and really quite warm, the last race was incredibly frustrating with the holes in the wind and it took ages with Martin and Barrie struggling to finish whilst Slieve & Roger nearly a leg behind were having their own private battle to chase the 2 leaders. After race 6 we decided that enough was enough and packed up early.
The race results are on the PDF and the results of the overall Winter Series results are attached separately.
Congratulations to Martin for having served consistently well throughout this series!
Moving on from the event, we have some information about progress with The River Thames Scheme. Recently there has been work being carried out halfway between the bollards and the pedestrian route under the M3. They made a big mess some time ago digging a big hole to check on the groundwater levels. This time they have cleared another stretch and also cleared some of the undergrowth to indicate the route of this new channel through the wood. This is shown on the PDF with Martin explaining!
Close to the bollards there was also a large diameter water pipe, also shown on PDF and when we asked one of the contractor’s men, he said that his firm were on site to mend broken large diameter pipework which had been burst by pressure and it was nothing to do with the RTS directly. We also noticed a fortnight ago that two Environment Agency women were doing their monthly testing of the water quality, which was to do with the RTS. We have had no reaction to our contribution to the planning application and no reaction from Thorpe Park, so for the moment there doesn’t appear to be a threat to access to our Clubhouse. Report by Roger 2023-11-3
