2003 Event Reports from the News Page...

Grafham Grand Prix

Cold of course, but as soon as we got off the beach a good 20 knots of breeze quickly washed out the Christmas Cobwebs... PY 994 now puts the Cherubs in the fast handicap class at the Grand Prix, with a whole load of 29ers, a fair few RS600s, plus RS400s, 4 Tonners and the like, so we got to sail on the bigger course at the top of the reservoir with clearer air. It didn't seem that big a course though as we hammered round! Cherubs entrants were just Halo Jones (Alex Adams/Jim Champ, and Norwegian Blue (Will Lee/ Lucy Lee). Halo took a lead in the Cherub fleet from the start, the considerable extra weight on the wire doing no harm at all, and both boats raced round in amongst the 600s and ahead of the 400s of course. Most amusing moment of the first lap was when a 4 Tonner attempted to luff Halo with both boats kite reaching - we edged just far enough ahead to bear off across their bows and disappear:-). Later on Alex was delighted to observe the speed difference between a 49er and a Cherub 3 sail reaching in those conditions - ie not much.

Norwegian Blue retired with refrigeration problems with a couple of laps to go, but on the last run Halo was looking well placed, ahead of most things other than 29ers, and getting a fair bit of daylight on the daggerboard when we failed to successfully negotiate a big rescue boat wake, and while we just about survived the nosedive as we speared into the far side of the big hole they 'd left in the water we didn't manage to gain control again and had an extended swim to finish in 12th place on handicap. In the tour of the front of the boat I also managed to rip a hole in my drysuit, so that was game over for us too. What's irritating is that our estimate of our position on handicap before the capsize was, shall we say, that we were very well placed indeed, but these are the breaks. A modern Cherub could very easily have won this one, shame you weren't there folks. The other shame was that there appeared to be no photographers out on the water, because there was some spectacular footage available! The photo above was taken from the bank - its amazing how much digital camera technology has advanced because you couldn't have hoped to get that sort of resolution at that range even a couple of years ago.

The Dinghy Xtreme Grandprix Tour Results

Portsmouth

A Low key finish to the season at Portsmouth. With the major placings in the travellers trophy decided several folk opted to get the winter maintenance program in before the major frostbite events come up in December/January. Consequently the Cherub turnout was principly to support Portsmouth SC's Cherub reunion (more below). However we did have some very pleasant races outside the harbour on what I still think of as the Pompey Perisher Race area, featuring Jim Champ and Alex Adams in Halo Jones, Ben Brown and Daryl Wilkinson in Little Fluffy Clouds, and Will (Hovercraft) Lee and Lucy Lee in Norwegian Blue. This was in itself something of a nostalgic lineup, as these three were the regularly campaigned three Bistros that started off the Bistro era in 1990. All but one of the crewmembers had changed though, as indeed have the boats, all sporting various conversions to 97 rules.

Getting out was the first amusement - the Perisher was typically set for the top of the tide so you got washed out at the start and washed in again after the finish. Today was quite the opposite situation, and watching those big standing waves in the harbour entrance from the bank was a bit intimidating. However we were expertly helped out PSC's ribs, to whom goes much thanks.

Racing was a couple of windward leewards. In race one, Halo Jones got the plumb start at the committee boat end and after juggling as we all tried to suss out the tidal sitation, led at the windward narrowly from LFC and Norwegian Blue. Up the beat it was just sub trapezing, so Halo opted for "low and deep". This turned into a mistake half way down the run as the breeze just got up enough for LFC to get through sailing a much hotter angle on the last gybe to the mark. After much battling Halo got back through on the last run, gybing inside LFC and taking another increment of breeze to take them down to the mark, and then maintained the lead to the finish.

Race two was pretty much wiring all the way round. Halo again got the best of the start and led round in a highly enjoyable session with enough waves coming up for plenty of bouncing downhill. Norwegian Blue's constant harrying at LFC paid off when some sort of problem with a tiller extension on LFC let them through to second place both in the race and (on countback) overall.

Cherub Reunion at Portsmouth SC

The Reunion itself was a highly enjoyable bash... It was interesting to see faces put to some of the names I've typed up in those old race reports, and hear various tall and not so tall tales going back to before just about everyone in the Fleet now was born... Highlights included hearing how the first Cherub on the UK mainland (as opposed to IOW) was built rather secretively in a PSC building over the winter by a 14 year old Chris Hornsey... A ship shouting abuse at a Victory class keelboat, finishing up with "and I shall report you to the Queens harbourmaster", to which the helm of the Victory stood up and said "I *am* the Queen's Harbourmaster"... The tale of how the winners of a Merrydown Cider sponsored race over on the IOW arrived back having drunk their prize - a significantly sized keg of the product - en route, and the crew lying unconscious in the bottom of the boat while the helm attempted to derig it... and lots more, old photos, memories, an excellent supper... We should have some of the archive material for the website soon. One lesson for the newer members of the fleet was how little as well as how much has changed... A phrase on the lines of "we'll put the varnish on next week" particularly rang bells! We also noted how just about all the early boats where named after some kind of alcoholic drink!

Finally many thanks from the Current UK Association to all those who organised the reunion, notably Chris Forman, Gower Lloyd and most especially the apparently untirable Neville Hill.

Final Fling

Mayflower SC were welcoming as ever for the Cherubs arriving at the Fling. Curiously we mostly arrived rather earlier than one would expect, the cause being to Lucy Lee and her parents for offering space at their delightful house near Tavistock. Breakfast too: wonderful! Many thanks from all of us.

Race one was sailed in a vaguely force 2ish breeze with a suprising amount of waves for so little breeze (but of course not of any real size) plus an underlying swell from a quite different angle, so the routes through the lumps were really quite complicated. Cherub "Mango Jam" (Gavin Sims and Simon Goodwin) led up the beat, swapping places with Cherub "Halo Jones" (Alex Adams and Jim Champ) and a 4 tonner. Halo Jones took the lead on the run, lost it on the next beat to Mango Jam, and then regained it again on the run and through to the finish, with Mango Jam second. Norwegian Blue (back active again, hurrah) (Will Lee and Lucy Lee) were third Cherub for most of the race, but unluckily lost it to Little Fluffy Clouds (Ben Brown and Daryl Wilkinson) with a kite snaggle on the last mark. The race was sort of two separate Match races, with Halo and Mango battling it out a bit in front of LFC and the dead Parrot. It was as well that the racing was reasonably interesting because the breeze wasn't!

Race two saw an early start with "Halo Jones" perhaps going back unnecessarily, and never really managing to reel back all the lost ground to "Mango Jam". LFC was third, and Norwegian Blue 4th. Again it was a sort of 2 and 2 race.

The breeze increased appreciably for the third race, being just trapezing conditions up and downwind. Predictably Mango was seen leaving, and just got further and further away from the three Bistros, who were much closer in this race, though Will and Lucy were, suprisingly perhaps, suffering much more with their small rig in this race than the previous too lighter ones.

The next morning dawned breezy. In fact very breezy. "Mango Jam" revelled in the conditions and hurtled round in clouds of spray and specacular capsizes. Fizzy Shark joined us for the morning with Tim and Una and a brand new rudder and stock. A bit too brand new unfortunately as it failed, Tim diagnosing incompletely cured layup. Will and Lucy elected to come in after a swim which eneded up rather to close to one of her Majesty's Fleet Auxillaries. We're not sure if they were more worried about being swept into the ship's anchor chain or by the machine guns with which the Navy is apparently discouraging close inspection of their ships in these days of heightened tensions…Halo was absent - your editor woke up with a migraine (no, not a hangover!) and LFC spend an extenmded time upside down too. With the boats from other classes also upside down Gavin and Simon were the sole finishers. At this point, with the wind if anything building, the race officer made a wise decision to abandon racing for all classes, leaving "Mango Jam" the clear winners with three firsts from the four races.

A Good Fling, shame the wind wasn't just a tad quieter on the Sunday and windier on the Saturday, and shame a few more didn't turn up, but a good time had by all!

Inlands

Dinghy Extreme Grand Prix Tour Event at Kielder Water

Well we all got up (or down) to Kielder, and it really looked rather good. The place is a vast and picturesque reservoir up in the moorland roughly half way across the top of England, pretty much miles from most places. Teams included Gavin Sims and Simon Goodwin with Mango Jam, Phil Alderson & Malcolm Garrington with Aqua Marina, Martin Hurst and Jon Garfitt with Fuzzy Logic, Ben Brown and Daryl Wilkinson with Little Fluffy Clouds, and Alex Adams and Jim Champ with Halo Jones. This meant teams from the North of Scotland, South Wales, East Anglia and the South East, not to mention one expatriate Australian! I suppose the first suprise when we set off was the colour of the wake. I guess it must be peat on the moorland, but the water is kinda whisky coloured!

Anyway race one was a triangle with a long reach broad enough to require gybing and a shorter one which was occasionally two sail. Rather a fun course in the conditions actually. The wind was a very decent 4/5. Somehow the Cherubs managed to start two minutes late but all exactly together. You couldn't make this stuff up could you. Anyway up the beat Mango, Halo and Aqua all swapped places, but Gavin came out first to the windward mark, and then built a good lead when Halo overstood the wing in a big gust and had to two sail back up to it. Gav and Simon finished up in the middle of the Ospreys that had started a good 5 minutes before them, with Alex and Jim second a bit further down the Osprey fleet!

Race two was the big one, a race from "dam to dam", the two dams in Kielder Water being around 6 miles apart. The race started with a mass start and a windward leewardish sort of leg before all disappeared up to the far distance round several corners. Much place swapping ensued up the beat, mostly between Aqua, Mango and Halo again, mixed in with everything from Ospreys and Flying 15s to a 5 Tonner. The leg back down suddenly blew up as we cleared a headland, and a big gust saw the Cherubs end up way low and having to drop and two sail up, but even struggling for height sailing the boat on its ear Alex' GPS still clocked 15.1 knots on Halo. Mango led at the downwind from Aqua, with Halo a little further back after a swim. Round the mark it was off up a winding valley to the far end of the lake. The wind dropped a bit and got shifty, then it dropped some more and got shiftier, and we were getting farther away from home and it seemed like a long way to sail back to retire. So we carried on. In the lighter stuff the pond sailors in Halo started to come to the front, aided by a policy of not hoisting the kite because we thought it was too light, plus the wind was going round so much that no sooner did you have it up than the wind came on the nose and wrapped it round the forestay. At times were were going along tacking every couple of minutes regularly without changing course, so persistently were the shifts going one way then the other. We had thought it was painful going up, but it was far worse on the way back down. Halo eventually finished, just after the sun had disappeared behind the hills, first Cherub after some four hours, with Aqua about 5 minutes after, and the other Cherubs retiring rather than face the last mark downwind of the club. Your editor had thought they were doing suprisingly well on handicap, finishing amongst Moths and Ospreys and Fifteens, but had clean forgotten that although when I built Halo the Flying Fifteens gave the Cherub around a couple of minutes an hour, these days we give not only the 15s but even the Moths time. About all we beat was a couple of Ospreys and one amazingly tenacious and committed GP14 sailor, who finished lit by car headlights and moonlight after some six hours sailing!

About 4am Ben, Daryl and Jim found themselves tying down boats with extra rocks in what was obviously a gathering breeze. Very gathering by 7am, as Alex' tent made a good attempt at takeoff! By rigging time it was regularly gusting 29 knots by the clubhouse anenometer, and frankly we all thought it was underreading! Well there hasn't been a lot of breeze lately anyway, so Halo, Aqua and Mango went out. Foolish boys. When we in Halo got across the start line (late) both the other two were horizontal, and when we reached the windward mark very soon afterwards it seemed as if the other two were retiring. We chucked the kite up in a handy lull, and then caught the mother of all gusts... I can honestly say I have never ever gone so fast in any sailboat - we were already flat out wiring when the gust hit and the boat leapt away and accelerated as only Cherubs can. Very soon afterwards we were going to have to gybe in front of a rocky lee shore, then gybe again back down to the leeward mark just off the dam. In what felt like well in excess of thirty knot gusts, with, we thought, the series won, we dropped the kite and sailed in. Then we saw Mango had started and was heading up the beat. A finish would give them the series. Like us they copped a gigantic gust on the run, like us they headed downhill at ridiculous speeds, then we saw them wipe out big time with the mast going over the front. Fortunately it was only a rigging failure, with just new shrouds to buy, so the most experienced lake sailors Alex Adams and Jim Champ ended up as Inland Champions. Perhaps the practice we got sailing Queenie round Frensham in zero breeze a few weeks back paid? About the only boats to finish the race were a couple of Ospreys, at least one of which sailed round with the jib furled and just the main driving!

1. Alex Adams & Jim Champ, Island Barn SC, England, Bistro design, Fyfe (NZ)/Ctech (NZ) rig.
2. Phil Alderson & Malcolm Garrington, Peterhead SC, Scotland, Paterson 7 Design, Batt/CST (AUS) rig.
3. Gavin Sims and Simon Goodwin, Neyland SC, Wales, Buttplug Design, own built mast and sails.
4. Ben Brown and Daryl Wilkinson, Stone SC, England, Bistro Design, Batt sails.
5. Martin Hurst and Jon Garfitt,Notts County SC, England, Velocipede Design.

Weymouth

I've not had any news from Weymouth really. It was nice conditions, and according to the results Gavin and Simon were second with Mango Jam, and AK and Simon 4th with Nautilus Pompilius.

Andy & Alex Paterson win the 2003 Nationals

Andy and Alex took the 2003 Nationals with a race to spare from Gavin Sims and Simon Goodwin, with Andy Kinchin and Simon Roberts chasing hard for third place.

Nationals Report

Nationals Results

Nationals Photos and Orders.

Frensham Jubilee Regatta

Alex Adams and I dug the venerable Queenie SJB out of the garage for this to join a selection of N12s, an early Merlin, a beuatifully kept up wood Finn and some others. The wing mast and the 9ft spinnaker pole both attracted a fair bit of attention - there's a whole new generation who've never seen a kite pole hanging 2 feet beyond the end of the boom... The Frensham connection I knew about was that Frensham was the base for multiple Championship winners Guy Lewington and Alex Windsor. The connection I didn't expect was that on the race team was Bruce Hill, a Cherub sailor in the 70s, who used what is now Queenie's rig on his boat Cachaca, and whose father owned QSJB herself.

Unfortunately the wind didn't turn up on the first day, and lying on the foredeck was in order yet again... In fact on the afternoon race I got so tangled and twisted my back gave out, and I jumped ship and left Alex to sail the second half of the race on his own. It was mostly too light for kites anyway.

Sunday saw a tad more wind, but rarely enough to justify the trapeze harness. The bolt for the nainsail hookup pulled through the wood in the first race, and I pulled yet another downhaul patch out of the kite *again* in the afternoon, but we did get one one spectacular 3 sail fully powered up reach in the lunchtime race!

And finally on the way home I spent some time swapping places on the A3 at, shall we say, about 60mph with a totally monstrous maroon Rolls Royce. On closer inspection it had no license plates! So we can say that Queenie and crew have been cut up by the Queen's Chauffeur...

Bala Long Distance Drift

naff all wind, we did a lap in just under 3 hours, then gave up as sailing in 0 to 3 knots of wind from any direction gets tiresome and we didn't fancy another lap or 2. We were doing alright, about 15th on the water - we drift almost as fast as everyone else. Turnout seemed low, only 3 asymmetrics, 2 rs700's and us.

Dinghy Extreme Event at Bala

Four Cherubs, Little Red Number (Patrick and Smilie), Mango Jam (Gavin and Simon), THE Slug (Andy and Simon) and Little Fluffy Clouds (Ben and Chris) made the trek over the hills to "sunny" Wales. Unfortunately we were greeted by rain and shifty winds coming over the mountains.

Cherub results were a bit spurious. AK and Simon did reasonably well in the first race, everyone else opted for coffee and Welsh Pasties. The second race was equally shifty gusty with the RO sending us as close to the hills as possible.. The conditions suited the RS400s Merlins and others but not the Cherubs..

On Saturday evening the Cherub fleet descended on Express Pizza and then returned to the club to listen to the "sometimes band" or more appropriately renamed "Sometimes (but rarely) in Tune band" Interesting interpretation of the word "entertainment".

Day two dawned pretty similar to Saturday.. After AK and Simon sacrificed themselves and packed up the wind did increase and we all enjoyed a bit of boat swapping, the race committee decided to put on an extra race and possibly the best race all weekend... Chris (who was new to Cherubs) teamed up with Gavin, Simon did his best to prove that Patrick's boat was a little under engineered and Smilie had a go in Fluffy... The results were pretty irrelevant but LRN came 2nd , MJ retired on the biggest gust of the day and f****d off down the lake at speed and LFC plodded round and then had a play...

By Monday the wind shifted back round and came down the lake but never really blew enough to get the pulse going... But all in all it was a good weekend, with some interesting moments.. If anyone's looking for a decent Crew / helm for the nationals I recommend Chris.. He's nearly converted and just needs another little push...

Dinghy Extreme Grand Prix Event at Weston

Andy Paterson and Claire Spens as guest crew in Shiny Beast, Tim Dean and Una-Mary Colclough in Fizzy Shark, and Gavin Sims and Simon Goodwin in Mango Jam made the trip to Weston for the Easter Grand Slam. Things looked a little light from the shore before launching on Friday, but no-one seemed to mind as the sun was blazing. Once on the water though the gusts got bigger the further from shore you got in the easterly-ish wind. The course set was a trapezoid, with a tight 2-sailer to start. The 3 Cherubs sort of got stuck and rolled by the numerous RS 800's and what not but all got moving swiftly on once out in the breeze with the kite up. Mango got away in a gust to the right as Shiny Beast fell over and was still well up with the faster boats by the leeward mark, with Fizzy close behind. The boats stayed in that order to the end with the greater righting moment of Mango being an advantage in the blustery conditions.

Race 2 had a windward leeward set for it but again with a frustrating 2-sailer under the shore of the club. The gusts where a bit more vicious in this race with the ragging of the main and dumping of the jib being a common occurrence upwind. Shiny Beast got away well on the first lap start, with Mango just taking Fizzy at the end of the lap. Fizzy hoisted quicker and sailed over the top of Mango, but the gust disappeared so Mango returned the favour and sailed over the top of Fizzy as the next gust hit but the two of them where pointing about 15 degrees lower than the leeward mark so had to drop early and fetch to it. Both gained on Shiny Beast uphill, but not enough. Shiny and Mango shot away downhill again not making the leeward mark, with Fizzy just missing the gust and gently drifting downwind in its own private hole. Mango was ahead by the leeward mark, but only just. At the windward mark Mango had pulled out a bit and set off downhill once more having to put in a few gybes to make the leeward mark for a change, with Shiny Beast pointing 45 degrees below it having a long 2-sailer to reach it. Positions stayed the same to the finish.

Saturday was a bit more overcast, with a few harsh gusts being felt on the beach and Martin and Smilie in Fuzzy Logic also on the scene. A windward-leeward again, but with no dog-legs along the shore so an abrupt 90 degree turn at the start line was needed. Mango was at the pin end so managed to gybe out straight away into the stronger wind, being the second boat in the fleet to the first mark. It wasn't until the boats started going upwind again that it became apparent how windy it was. The gusts where super vicious and taking their toll on everyone out there. Shiny and Fuzzy found the conditions not to their liking but Mango and Fizzy struggled through.

Patrick with Little Red Number turned up for the afternoon but stayed ashore to sort out his rigging as the conditions weren't too appealing.

Mango was the only Cherub foolish enough to leave the beach for the afternoon race to join the much depleted fleet (not many ventured out in the afternoon), but was a few minutes late for the start. However several boats where upside down on the run so it didn't matter too much. It was windier than the morning but the gusts weren't as harsh and due to less boats on the water trying to avoid hitting things downhill was much easier. Things where looking good until a trapeze line snapped on the final downhill leg leaving Simon to practise his breaststroke.

Again the wind was in the same direction for Sunday and more windward leewards where the order of the day. Thankfully the wind had abated slightly but still enough to be overpowered uphill and down.

Mango got away well but sailed into lighter air, leaving shiny to sail straight to the leeward mark. Mango rounded just ahead of Fuzzy both chasing shiny hard up the beat. Mango passed shiny on the next downhill leg with the gusts still hitting hard without remorse. Shiny headed in after a long swim and joined Fizzy on the beach whose rudder gave up the ghost when avoiding a 4 tonner at the start who wasn't in total control of its destiny.

Mango sailed round the course with Fuzzy behind. When ashore though something didn't look quite right with Fuzzy, after hoisting the kite after a swim a gust struck them, with the kite billowing out in front of the boat, and the main against the shroud the bow started going down, as the pressure increased the mast relented and completely inverted with the mast tip somewhere over the bow. This was too much for the spreaders so they all ripped off the mast to relieve themselves of the undue stress. AS the mast popped back the mast track then broke and snapped off too, but the mast stayed up somehow leaving them to sail back to shore with a slightly floppy rig.

A replacement rudder for Fizzy couldn't be found so only Mango and Shiny Beast went out for the afternoon race. Same course as the morning but with a little less wind. The two Cherubs changed places continually throughout the race as gusts where caught and missed, but shiny was the right side when the wind shifted by about 80 degrees to the south leaving Mango to follow behind till the finish.

At last, the wind was blowing from the south at decent F3-4, and the sun was out. Mango shot away on the short 2-sailer at the start beating the 49ers and 800's to the first mark. Mango was steadily pulling out from Shiny Beast and all was looking good until the allegedly unbreakable bowsprit broke jumping over some waves. Shiny Beast was then ahead at the leeward mark but kindly chucked it in letting Mango back in front.

Everyone was either broken or too knackered from 4 days of wind so sat in the sun and packed up whilst the last race was on.

Overall Mango managed a second in the grand slam, gaining an Easter egg and subscription to dinghy sailing magazine who sponsored the event, with ex-Cherubim Matt Searle in a B14 taking the honours with Davro as guest crew for the final race. Another ex Cherubber in the prizes was Martin Harrison, winning his event with his Moth.

Therefore Mango also took the first Dinghy Extreme sponsored event, with Shiny second and Fizzy third.

Thanks to Gavin for the report.

The Old Shark Finds a Tooth!

Tim tells me Fizzy Shark with Tim and Una on board won the Weston Freezer Asymettric Series on Sunday from 32 other boats, including B14s, I14s, 4 and 5 tonners and various ReSses (thinks, what's the Plural of RS?). Apparently an extra bonus to the series was lots of new french words learned while hurtling past two gallic gentleman in a Topper Spice! Well done you two...

Grafham Asymmetric Shoot Out - 3 Bullets for the White Slug!

	Photos © of and by Bob Carter of Grafham Water SC. Very many thanks.

Andy and Simon in 'THE' Slug won (convincingly) the Grafham shoot out.

Four Cherubs turned up, Gavin and Davro in Mango Jam, Jonathan (Smilie) and Hursty in Fuzzy Logic, Andy K and Simon in Slug, Ben and Daryl in Little Fluffy Clouds.

Saturday was great - a lovely constant F3-4. Mango and Fluffy had to sit out the first race. It was clear from the bank was that the Slug was stonkingly quick.. Racing off 1020 they were ahead of most of the 29ers by the end of the fast lap and showed good up wind speed and nice bouncy off wind squirts! 1st place by a number of minutes went to Andy and Simon.

The wind picked up a tad for the second race a produced few wobbles for everyone.. The slug was still going like brown stuff off a shovel. Mango with Davro just behind. Fuzzy and Fluffy had a good mid fleet battle with each other and the slower 29ers and a Buzz.

The third race was a repeat of the second, Mango came second and LFC came 10th with another really good race with a Buzz and Fuzzy. Fuzzy was only just behind us but in front of the Buzz.

Sunday started with fog but a light wind filled in and they sent the fleet sailing. The racing wasn't quite as much fun but Andy and Simon put in a very respectable light winds performance to take the event with two 6ths and Three 1sts.

Thanks to Ben Brown for the report, condensed from mailing list.

Sailboat Show

A quietish but by no means unproductive Sailboat, a better propertion of normal of what seemed like serious interest. More info here..

Rutland Tiger Trophy

What with a dreadful weather forecast - snow and goodness knows what, turnout dropped to three. Curiously the missing party was the closest, which was a cause of concern for those of us who were anticipating crashing chez Garfitt. Anyway present were Strawberry, Mango and Halo Jones. We got there to be greeted with about 150 other boats, at least half of which seemed to be 29ers with most of the rest 420s. RYA/Volvo Jackets well in evidence...

Day 1 was three shortish races on a sort of quadrilateral course, beat/just too tight for kite mark to mark reach, broad reach, often too tight for kite (except Strawberry!) reach. This gave plenty of opportunity for close encounters, and also plenty of opportunity for Cherubs to go hurtling past poor unsuspecting virtually everything elses... The first two races were the best wind, but the tightness of the reaches didn't enable Cherubs to shine on handicap. Mango was leading Cherub in the first two, but retired from the third after a B14 put a hole in their main. Halo was missing from race 1 fixing a breakage incurred en-route(!), but narrowly beat Strawbrry in Race 2. Strawberry also retired from Race 3 - apparently mark was shivering so much they felt the vibrations from his shivering would be regarded as ooching and break the propulsion rules. This left Halo to go round... The wind dropped plenty on this, and Halo was very disgruntled when the RC elected to shorten course and average lap remaining boats about 10 seconds after we crossed the line. What made this particularly irritating was that we were fighting with a bunch of RS400s at this point, but after a lap in what had dropped well below trapeze wind they were long gone...

Day 2 was the non-discardable Pursuit Race. When we woke up - amazingly Rutland had enough spare bunks to fit the Mango and Halo crews when we "booked" as the office closed - the wind looked pretty weak. It built some though, and when we got Halo out of the lee of the shore and the bows headed rapidly down we knew this was going to be entertaining... Racing off 994 for the weekend was a bit intimidating for your editor whose boat sailed off about 1055 when I built it, but then I managed to make it worse by starting a minute early and having to go back. Gavin and Simon disappeared off over the horizon, and we were following at high speed, having just started overtaking 470s and things when we chucked it in on a gybe and came up sans gooseneck. Game over. Strawberry had to come in a little later, and from the shore it was obvious that Mango was making progress in fits and starts with the occasional swim. With about ten minutes to go they wiped out in huge style just off the cllubhouse on a 20knot plus reach with what had all the symptoms of a rudder problem. When they came it it transpired that the rudder had actually cracked about 6 inches down from the top whan they were avoiding a "wipe out 15 feet in front of you" 420 on the first lap, and they'd been attempting to sail the rest of the race, which was very gusty and peaking well over 20knots, with about 70% steering. So you won't see Cherubs featuring well up in the results. We had some cracking sailing though, you should have been there folks!

Bloody Mary

Gavin Sims and Simon Goodwin came second in the Bloody Mary by the very narrowest of margins - pipped by a 49er by under a minute as the wind died towards the end. Starting in a very decent - if somewhat shifty cold and gusty - breeze they stormed through the slow boats to take the lead with about half an hour to go, sailing a super race. Unfortunately on the last lap the wind dropped some, and they were having trouble keeping planing upwind, which saw some of the fast boats behind catch up on some quite long beats. Eventually the last leg turned out to be a beat, and the 49er just snuck through.
Other Cherubs were Little Fluffy Clouds with Ben Brown and Daryl Wilkinson, who had the odd swim or two and never really managed to get through the pack, and Halo Jones with Jim Champ, steered by 29er Transitional Squad member Sophie Jones, having her first serious outing in a Cherub. Unfortunately the conditions on the first lap were just a little too much for this "team for the day" and we elected to retire after a couple of high speed near misses as we weren't totally confident of our ability to miss some of the less aware sailors.
Not so lucky on that front was ex Cherubim Martin Harrison in his Int Moth, who had one of those days where every idiot on the water seems to want to ram your boat, and after one of them bashed the rig so hard it broke strands in the shrouds he decided enough was enough...
Fluid Fotos (www.fluidfotos.com) took plenty of photos of the event, most notably plenty of Gavin.