Lightning 368 Rum and Mince Pie Open at West Oxfordshire Sailing Club

With wind guru predicting 16-33 mph winds in the morning and 4-8 mph in the afternoon, the Lightning fleet thought we would all be in for an exciting days sailing. But yet again the "curse of R&MP" struck again. Rain was expected, but lack of wind no.

After a 30 minute delay due to traffic chaos on the M40, 8 visiting boats joined the two home boats for race one.

With the wind coming from the south, straight down the lake, our race officer of the day, Andrew, set a longish course, with a lengthy beat, reach and runs. The first lap went well in the 5/6 mph winds and Simon following his "blip" at Hunts, soon found himself at the front of the fleet, followed by Robbie and Spike. During lap two the wind finally dropped to nothing and after 45 minutes, Simon being the leading boat duly finished. It would be a further 30 minutes before the rest of the fleet finished their race, it was a case of who could drift the fastest as the mist gradually worked its way up the lake. There were many switching of places in the rest of the fleet with Robbie securing a comfortable second and Jason winning the battle for third place between himself, Penny and Spike.

After a very welcome lunch, thank you Pauline, Andrew decided to set a smaller square course. The "wind" had switched 180 degrees and was now coming from a northerly direction, the fleet took to the almost mirror like misty waters, very atmospheric. Spike took an early lead, but Simon soon overhauled him to take the lead once more. Bryan had a storming race, the light winds seeming to suit him well, as he caught up Spike and Robbie. Although the lake looked as if there was not a breath of wind, the fleet sailed the course fairly quickly and completed three laps. Simon took his second win of the day ahead of Robbie and Bryan.

Due to the conditions, it was decided not to hold a third race.

Overall Results:

1st Simon Hopkins (Up River Y.C.) 2pts
2nd Robbie Claridge (Royal Lymington Y.C.) 4pts
3rd Spike Daniels (Oxford S.C.) 9pts

Being the last event of the season, it was also presentation time for the travellers series. This was comfortably won by Simon Hopkins with 12 points, but only three points separated second to fourth places. As Caroline and Penny could not improve on their previous results, they finally stood with Paul White second and Caroline Key third. Bryan Westley retained the silver fleets travellers trophy for the second year, but as Bryan has now been promoted to the Gold fleet for the next season, there will be some new contenders for this trophy next year.

After the day's activities, 11 members went for the end of season meal, where we all had an opportunity to "dissect" the days racing and reviewed the previous season. The next event after Dinghy Show in March, will be two days at Manor Park, day one being a training day and the open on Sunday in early April.

Thanks again to Andrew and his race team, Les, Chris and Kim, who had the difficult task of setting the courses and Pauline for an excellent lunch, ably assisted by Jenny.