Into my heart an air that kills from yon far country blows: …
What are those blue remembered hills,
What winds, what waves are those?
Monday 3rd September:.…… A small fleet of diehards,..girding their collective loins for the Dinghy Owners Meeting,.. where were you?.. sailed from a Club Line start into the North Lake and around a bit and then back and then back again.. JR sailed away,.. Robin, making a rare foray, took Evie out for race and spinnaker experience,. and pushed John and Pat all the way,… the Commodore was sailing with a young lady who’s name I have forgotten,.. but she knows Annie,.. but it was young Frith,.. whilst keeping clear of the rocks,……..(Oops, I’d promised not to mention it..)… who successfully pushed me over the line at the start, and, while I went back to re-cross the line, sailed off, with the Commodore and JR into the setting sun,..Richard B was heard to mutter, (as I overtook him), ‘that’s it, this boat is for sale!’…... Dinghy Owners Meeting,.. a smallish turnout, heard that Barty is to become Sailing Secretary next year and Claire McC., was elected as Dinghy Secretary,..Matt is going to continue his splendid encouraging job as Class Captain,.. Barty/Claire should be persuaded to post this years Minutes as a DRAFT version so all the non-attendees can see what was said,..(and many thanks to the retiring Peter G)… ps,. if I get this out in time and you have nothing to do this weekend, take a trip down to Southport and shout encouragement to our doughty determined dreadlocked (?), daring dashing Dinghy Team,…
Sunday 2cnd September:..pm.,… although we were a long way apart on the water,.. Peter ‘hopelessly Devoted’ W and I had a win and a second each,.. Simon/Judith, Kevin/Lisa and Kieth/Kathryn had two 3rd, 4th and 5ths each but best of all was that Richard joined us for the first race in Hyper-Sonic,.. which a: meant that there were two Solos on the water at the same time and that b: ,.. for the first race, Kieth and Kathryn weren’t last,.. he was made most welcome,.!!… the wind died to not very much in the second, which Bewsh kindly brought to a swift conclusion…..
am.,.. Robin took Ian S out for a sail in Evie/Ian’s GP14 and I took out a brace of grandchildren in mine,… we will all remember the ‘mighty squall’ for some time ..!!.. Robin and Ian were planing about in the South Lake and I was calmly (!!??) trying to sail my grandchildren back to the Club in a cheerful ‘.. you need a bit of wind to make the boat go quicker’, .. sort of manner,.. All survived,.. unlike the squall, which passed by within 5-10 minutes and went off to give Ambleside a good thrashing,..
Thursday 30th August:.. we came down to see ‘the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea’,..(lake)… a mirror calm,.. at 6.00pm a zephyr,.. a miniature precursor to the squall on Sunday, drifted through the Bay and John and Pat took the cover off Boo,… that was it; several removed covers later and a small fleet swanned about in the Bay whilst Bewsh laid pin-ends, Dan-bouys, eggs and other paraphernalia …… at which point the zephyr,.. continuing to carry out it’s recce for it’s bigger cousin, ‘The Squall on Sunday‘,.. drifted off to the North,.. leaving us to flap/paddle our way back to the Club,…….
Tuesday 28th August:.. Denis Hope,… the seven of us all ended up rather a long way apart in what was a rather unexciting race,… Ian was going rather well,… and Kieth and Kathryn were rather hoping that Richard would turn up..!. see above…
Monday 27th August:… am. .. Belle Isle Race;.. where were you?… we chose to go round starboard-hand,… in theory to have a beat up to Cockshot,…but in fickle, light airs,..it was pretty dreadful,.. but don’t let that put you off!!!,.. be there next year! AND, continue into the afternoon by going out to sail for the Commodore’s Prize,.. I was abandoned in the dinghy park,.. so the Commodore’s Prize was won,.. 1st and 2cnd by James and myself from the previous Thursday,… I was rather embarrassed by the lack of support for Simon….
Sunday 26th August:..Marathon Fun Day,…… my word, but did it rain,!!.. thank you to Simon and Paula, Zoe and Richard and others,.. I took a RIB and there was a race ,.. Simon set a course for a pursuit race which involved the use of all the red 1, 2s and threes in the box,… eventually they were allowed to head for Hodge How, ..I took some very cold youngsters back to the Club so that they could get dried up and go round by road,.. they were out in the RS Quest .. it was good to see it on the water,… we all ate and drank and went home,.. in spite of the weather it was an excellent day out,.. a lot of very cheerful people…
Thursday 23rd August:.. The first race in the Commodore’s Prize series,.. and a good one,… it would have been better if we’d had the next two as well.. see above…………. tricky winds in a westerly upper Lake,.. James caught a good long gust and I managed to find a better breeze under a cloud .. eleven of us out there,.. well I enjoyed it anyway!,.. dinghies again in the Gazette,..!! well done James,..
Monday 20th August:.. No wind,.. at all, nothing!.. not even a zephyr..
Sunday 19th August:... I wasn’t there,.. but as far as I can tell, neither was anyone else,..!
Thursday 16th August:...I wasn’t there for that one either,.. but a good turnout, .. and a win for the Commodore,..
Wednesday 15th August:… Big clean Up…. in torrential rain,.. what a turnout..!?.. each of us turning up expecting to be there alone and be able to be smug and say ‘well at least I turned up’.. to find a goodly crowd,.. of dripping individuals,.. working hard for the promise of chip butties,. which were excellent,..
Monday 13th August:… my kind of light wind and a win,.. Matt could never get quite far enough ahead,..and I was close enough behind John and Pat to get the result………..Peter G setting interesting zig-zag courses in the south Lake,…
Sunday 12th August:... rain, a dying breeze and 3 boats to make a race,.. Julian and Claire took the win,. and Stephen W making a rare appearance in a Laser, sensibly gave up and went home,….
Thursday 9th August:... the first Peter G zig-zag…. a good course for GPs and Solos…. rarely, for once, managing to beat the RS 100s…. 13 dinghies out, a good fleet,.. augmented by some FFs having ‘fun’… I’m not entirely convinced that Amanda, who was probably leading the race at the time of a ‘fun’ incident, thought that it was much fun at all,… Steve and I making one of our rare appearances in the GP, benefited from Amanda’s ‘fun’ experience, into 2cnd place behind John and Pat and in front of Julian and Claire,..
and prior to all of that Michael O’Leary managed to get us to Ireland,.. and back again
but before we left
Thursday 2cnd August:... can’t remember!.. Steve and I were 5th,.. (4th GP,..).. 12 boats out,.. but the course/weather/incidents and accidents elude me,..
Monday 30th August:… 9 boats,… my diary says,..’calm then breeze’… and that’s all your going to get,..Robert (great nephew) won, JR (passing stranger with the same name), was second,…………………..
Off to Southport to support and shout encouragement,.. All the best of everything to all participants,..
we would appear to be heading to that ….’Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’….
BFN …………Nigel h