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4-9th August 1985
This year we shared with the Canoes and the Tasars, which turned out to be rather a two-edge weapon: true it meant we could go for a 6 day event, financially impossible for us otherwise, but it also entailed being tied to those classes' apron strings: if it was too windy for them it was too windy for us! Windy it was for the majority of the meeting, but the Cherubs coped with the conditions rather better than the other classes, and there is no doubt that on a couple of days at least we could have been Real Grown Ups and gone Over the Bar and Out to Sea. The race officer thought otherwise, and... [your internet editor has decided, even 15 years on, to censor the rest of the paragraph, the next, and various other sentences for fear of causing offence and libel cases!]
Gales, claimed to be gusting F10/11, and pouring rain. No racing,
much disconsolate drinking.
Race 2
Club Racing in the morning looked quite sedate, but by the time
of our scheduled race the wind had picked up again to a 4/5. Thus
the race officer decided discretion was the better part of valour,
and kept us in the harbour. However the tide was well short of
high, and so the first 'round the tins' race ensued, which basically
meant following channels, using fixed marks, cutting corners if
you dared, negotiating moorings etc. Interstingly, and prophetically,
only the Cherubs chose to go out, the other fleets watching from
the relative safety of the bar. They claimed they were waiting
for the tide for proper Olympic Courses: rats! The first beat
was from East Head to a mark off the club, presumably for the
benefit of spectators, and thence a fetch up the Thorney Channel.
Flat Stanley immediately stuck his snout in front [that's odd,
we didn't have them back then - net ed.] with a large gaggle
chasing second place, or even first if they were optimistic. Bill
Deeley was moving steadily through the fleet after a poor start,
and ultimately claimed second place, followed by the Coopers,
Dave and Wendy in Old Pec, and Kevin's new "Nelly Smuts"...
Race 1 (Postponed from Sunday)
By Monday afternoon the wind was all back with us again, but so
was the tide and an Olympic course could be laid... The first
beat was notable for its eccentricity: it paid to overstand the
windward mark grossly on starboard to get a favourable tidal eddy
behind the Wimmer Bank, and then reach off on port with the tide
flooding through the entrance. Honestly! Again the leading positions
were hotly contested. 'Stanley' was in there again, but had to
retore with a stone in the Daggercase )Don't ask me how it got
there) and then a broken vang. Thereafter the Patersons lead for
most of the race. Bill wiped out in full view of the Club trying
spi gybing when contesting second place with Pervert... and other
spills were frequent. Rupert Bremer lost a mast pitchpoling in
the Winner waves which catapulted him to the top of his (illegally
oversized!) mainsail and Simon Robinson's stick also snapped.
On the last beat, which we were later told was sailed in a steady
force 7, Andy grounded and fell over. He righted quickly, but
'Perversion' was close enough to take advantage, and in a tense
last 200yds tacking duel (ashen faced, tight lipped), stole it
from 'Pxysyzygy', with the Coopers again third and malcolm Jacques
'rebel' 4th, followed by 'Dragon', 'Nellie' and 'Old Pec'...
Race 3
A mere f5 for this one. Guy with his new Caws sails appeared to
be in overdrive, and opulled away throughout. The race was between
'Dragon', the Coopers' 'Montague Egg', the Patersons, 'Perversion'
and others. There was a fair amount of carnage at the leeward
mark where high-speed dodgers through the capsizers added to the
adrenalin, but no damage was done. On the last reach across the
inevitable Winner, 'Perversion' did her favourite windward broach
and lost contact with the bunch. Bill, going fast upwind went
past the Patersons and the Coopers for another second, followed
by those, 'Perversion' just clinging on to 5th from 'Nellie' and
'Old Pec'.
Blown Off
Race 5
This was another round the tins race, and a long course it was
too. Again Guy established a lead, this time in quite moderate
conditions, but blew it when he left one of the twoo leeward marks
(!) on the wrong side. He rectified his mistake, but by this time
had left several others past... The rest of the race was decided
by the number of times the competitors hit the putty. 'Perversion'
lost the lead to 'Dragon' on one of the beats when hitting bottom
apparently a long way from the shore. 'Nellie' fell over doing
the same thing. Despite grounding on the last beat, Bill's 'Dragon'
won here first Championship race, followed by 'Perversion', 'Stanley'
and 'Nelly', all rather aggrieved for various reasons.
Race 4 (postponed from Wednesday)
Wind freshening again in the afternoon to F4/5. An Olympic course
was set, although the wing mark was placed so as to make the first
reach too shy for a kite for most of its length in those conditions,
with the b****y Winner sitting across it as well, while the other
reach was correspondingly broad. 'Stanley' scored her third win,
'Dragon' her third second, 'Perversion' third, 'Old Pec'4th, Pyxy
5th...
Race 6, Round the cans. The lightest wind of the week: no more than a 2/3. This race finally saw the '84 champion Malcolm Jacques take the lead in 'Rebel', followed by those other Lee light weather afficionados Will and Martyn. 'Rebel' was pegged back on the three sail reach up Thorney Channel, and 'Perv' was sniffing 'Rebel's backside at the leeward mark. 'Rebel' then elected to tack inshore, while 'Perversion' tacked immediately and fetched up theough the moored boats. In fact there was not appreciably any more tide out on the channel, and by the end of the fetch 'Perversion' held a 20 yd lead. At this point we started to wonder if there wss till life in the series, and decided that if we won and Guy and Bill were l;ower than 5th we'd stolen it. It was a long race, a little p[rocessional, though nail-biting at the front. Finally 'Perversion' won here second race, with 'Rebel' third and 'Dragon' and 'Stanley' 4th and 5th respectively, which was just enough to give them second and first overall...
Will Perret
[(Pervert in the text) who was quite obviously less than totally
impressed with the Race organisation when he wrote the report
- net Ed.]
| Helm | Crew | Sail | Name | Design | Total |
| Guy Lewington | Alex Windsor | 2705 | Flat Stanley | Mod. Murray | 10.25 |
| Bill Deeley | Alan Moore | 2627 | Last Amber Dragon | Deeley 5 | 10.75 |
| Will Perret | Martyn Clark | 2626 | Perversion | Ellway 4 | 11.5 |
| Andy Paterson | Pat Paterson | 2623 | Pxysysygy | Paterson 3 | 20 |
| Kevin Ellway | Jon Green | 2630 | Nelly Smuts | Ellway 4 | 27 |
| Dave Roe | Wendy Barclay | 2612 | Old Peculier | Ellway 3 | 27 |
| Malcolm Jacques | Mike Gregory | 2624 | Rebel | Howlett | 28 |
| Steve Cooper | Adrian Cooper | 2605 | Montague Egg | Murray | 28 |
| Robin Page | Martin Worth | 2547 | Page 3 | Forman 8 | 46 |
| Rupert Bremer | 2610 | Charlie Don't Surf | Murray | 49 |
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