9-Gallon Report – 17th October 2015
The traditional conclusion of the
yacht racing season, a pursuit race with the winner collecting a barrel of beer
was scheduled for Saturday. LWC had kindly donated a barrel of beer for the
prize but with a strong northerly wind whipping the sea up not even the chance
of free beer was enough to tempt the sailors to risk leaving harbour. And so
the sailors headed to the yacht club on Saturday night for the end of season
prize giving knowing the best prize was undecided.
The Commodore was determined that
a winner would be found however, and had spent his afternoon devising a new
9-gallon race which could be run in the safety of the clubhouse. Each skipper
was given a small model yacht, and with carefully calculated spinners which
would represent the relative speeds of the different boats they set off,
slowest boats first around a map of the bay.
B&B, Lady Hamilton and Double
D – or at least small replicas of – were away first, B&B making good use of
her head-start and was around the (small) bell buoy before the mid-fleet
Samaki, Masquerade and Detached started. Utilising a higher numbered spinner
these 3 were quickly on the tails of the leaders, but then they were looking
over their shoulders too as the fast boats were finally away – Deja Vu, Antix,
Teemane, Monsoon, Qantro, Icon and Cold Steel creating quite a crowd around the
early marks.
With the serious business of
awarding the seasons prizes to be done the game was called to a finish just as
Masquerade caught Lady Hamilton for the lead. 3 extra spins later the winner of
the 9 gallon race was finally decided – Lady Hamilton grabbing the prize. This,
fortunately, Joanna and Malcolm decided to share with their rivals. Thanks
again to LWC for generously letting us drink the beer despite not sailing!
With the free beer now claimed the
trophies won over the course of the season were presented. Starting with two
new prizes presented to the club in memory of former members David Duke and Jim
Male. These were won by Icon and Bugs Bunny.
Antix (winner of Spring, Autumn
and Bank Holiday Series as well as several cup races) and Icon (Summer,
Coastal, Millenium and Mid-Week winner) divided most of the class A prizes
between them, with Cold Steel taking the Pursuit series and numerous runners up
flags. The dominance of those 3 boats in class A has been clear all season,
only a few 3rd place flags were left for the others to fight over –
Qantro claiming those to add to her runners-up spot in the pursuit series.
Masquerade gathered up most class
B silverware, winning the Summer, Autumn and Bank Holiday prizes. Skywalker
(Spring) and Samaki (Coastal) also secured cups and several place flags. Lady
Hamilton couldn’t quite match her 9-gallon win but did gather an impressive
collection of 3rd place flags.
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