Annandale open meeting

Annandale 17th 18th April
 
Without a sign of ash or aeroplane in the sky the Scottish travellers kicked off at Annandale, it was also the second event for the Northern travellers. To try and encourage more people to come up from the deep south (naresbough) it was decided to make 3 races out of five to count so the first race was to be a practice race.

In gusty conditions but not the force 4 forecast only three boats headed out to the starting line. Bernard Clark quickly took the lead followed by Angus Beyts, Duncan Elder seemed to forget he was not in a GP 14 and got tangled with them and was last to get away. Bernard soon had a commanding lead and Angus decided to retire to make some adjustments to the rig before the next race and the positions remained unchanged.

The first point’s race saw six boats out on the start line with the wind now getting close to the forecast strength. Mark Simpson was first round the first mark with Bernard close behind, Angus was third with Brian Herring hard on his heels. Angus had high hope of moving up to second when Bernard found his tiller extension didn’t work very well when not attached to the tiller, but it was soon sorted and he set about catching up with Mark. Mean while Angus got in a tangle at the leeward mark and went for a swim, allowing Brian and the rest of the fleet through. Mark managed to hold off Bernard to win with Brian in third place.

Lunch was had before the second race, but Angus spent the time getting some more mast rake on. Tim Gatti had now turned up giving us 7 boats of 7 different designs. In the second race the DBs were away quickly again with the wind rising up to the promised force 4, Mark was first round the top mark with Bernard hot on his heels, Then came Brian, Tim, Duncan and Angus, Angus was showing good off wind speed with his newly raked back mast passing Duncan and Tim and looking set to pass Brian as he chickened out at a gybe mark, only to discover the down side of the extra rake as his head and a section of the boom tried to occupy the same space. The resulting capsize saw the other boats go through. The 360 that followed and accompanying swamping just after he had got the boat dry was not due to him still being dazed, but the rudder lifting up. Mark managed to hold off Bernard with Tim leading home the AC boats in third place.

With the sailing finished for the day Annandale once again showed what brilliant hosts they are with a Scottish themed meal. A chose of haggis, veggie haggis or fish pie, followed by a choice of delicious puddings, washed down with copious amounts of wine, all included in the entry fee of course, and if this wasn’t enough the malt whiskey was then produced.

Sunday dawned with freezing conditions and no wind, Angus blamed his sore head on the blow from the boom the day before, and still no wind, the postponement flag went up and still no wind, Howard Chadwick turned up to ruin the symmetry of 7 boats and seven different designs as he brought along a second design eight (trust him to ruin things). Eventually it was decided to have lunch and see if things improved.

After lunch, there seemed to be a slight whisper of a breeze and we set off out, but as we started manoeuvring for the start the wind (rather a grand term for something that would barely make a candle flicker) changed again and there were further delays as the course was changed which was as well for Howard who had attempted to shorten his foils on an underground pipe which had he attended the briefing on Saturday he would have been reminded about.

The race eventually got away with Mark and Angus heading left and the rest favouring the right hand side, the left seemed better initially, but a wind shift favoured the rest of the fleet. Mark still managed to get round the mark first and shot away to record his third straight win, while the rest were left swapping places, and it was Tim who eventually came out on top at the next mark after a long drift and as the wind rapidly got up he held his place with John Hugo proving that he can still sail when he gets on the water claiming third place.

While the rest of us were preparing for the final race (One race being cancelled due to the endless postponements), Mark and Emma disappear ashore. Just before the start they reappeared but too late to make the start line, so it was Bernard’s chance to take an early start with Howard second and Angus hard behind. The wind had now risen to a steady force 3 and Mark started to charge through the fleet, but it wasn’t until the second beat when I heard the cry “Hi Anne-goose” that I realised that Mark had nipped ashore to swap crews and young Toby was in the front seat, an experience that he seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

We now had the steadiest wind of the weekend, that is with the exception of the C mark, which everybody had problems getting round. Mark was finally able to pass Angus to claim third place.

Mark Simpson had of course won with Bernard Clark 2nd and Tim Gatti 3rd and first AC boat, the racing among the AC boats was very close with only 2 points separating 4 places. And so ended a great weekend, where once again Annandale showed their brilliant hospitality and excellent organisation. Their food was quite excellent with not only the evening meal but both lunches included in the cost. The final high point of the weekend for me was as the Simpsons tried to make off with the silverware south of the border and the rain was just starting they discovered that had a flat battery  (hee hee hee).
 
My apologies to Toby it is actually Bernard who calls me Anne-goose.
 

Overall results