CVRDA 20th Anniversary Rally at Roadford Lake Sailing Club

CVRDA 20th Anniversary Rally at Roadford Lake © Peter Vinton

CVRDA 20th Anniversary Rally at Roadford Lake © Peter Vinton

CVRDA 20th Anniversary Rally at Roadford Lake © Peter Vinton

Over the bank holiday weekend of 24th to 26th August Ed Bremner, a founder member and president of the CVRDA, organised the 20th anniversary rally at Roadford Lake, between Okehampton and Launceston.

In glorious weather a wide range of dinghies arrived to celebrate the work of CVRDA over the years in encouraging the sailing of classic racing dinghies. The oldest boat was N33, a National 12 from 1936. Classic Finns and Lowrider International Moths attended in good numbers in recognition of the work CVRDA have done over the years in encouraging these fleets and among the others were Ospreys, Firefly, Pegasus, Mercury, Harrier, Merlin, Wayfarer, Dayboat and Puffin. How many would you have recognised?

The event started on Friday with a treasure hunt taking in most of the lake with a picnic halfway. On Saturday a 'totally pointless' bang and back race was held round a square course. As the leaders approached the last mark a gun was fired and everyone turned round and retraced their course back to the start. This race was won by Pippa Whelan in her favourite boat, her Prout Puffin, despite having rather outgrown it!

After lunch the first championship races started with 2 races sailed back to back. By now the wind had really risen and gusts of over 20 knots were recorded, causing several casualties among the fleet. However a pattern quickly emerged of the 2 Ospreys of Mike and Pam Murray and Ros and David Downs out in front, followed some way behind by a boat which looked rather like a wannabe mini Osprey, but which was in fact a borrowed Wayfarer being sailed very well by Julian Smith and Mel Hardman. Somewhere between them was the Moth being expertly sailed by Paul Hignett leading a collection of Moths and then a fleet of Classic Finns with Peter Vinton's wooden mast on Django creaking under the strain but keeping in among the other more modern sisters. In the evening a tired bunch of sailors gathered for a 'black tie with a camping twist' dinner with a wide collection of strange interpretations of the theme.

On Sunday the winds were extremely light and shifty, giving the whole fleet of survivors and repaired boats a taxing time. Out in front were the same suspects for one race in the morning and another in the afternoon. After racing the annual 'Concours d'elegance' was held with Simon Montague's Wayfarer being voted the best looking boat on the water, Mike and Pam Murray's Osprey 'Supernova' best looking boat on land and Pippa Whelan's Puffin the boat most would like to take home, mainly I suspect because it could fit inside any of the other boats.

On Monday morning the lake looked calm and glassy, with a race seeming extremely unlikely but the fleet put out from the shore without much enthusiasm. However a light breeze appeared, the fleet set off and soon the leading bunch had completed a lap and were sent round again while the rest of the fleet were struggling for breeze, and were finished after one lap.

CVRDA 20th Anniversary Rally at Roadford Lake - photo © Peter Vinton

A cream tea and prize giving was held in the afternoon before everyone dispersed, with a reflection by Ed Bremner on the aims of CVRDA and how it had developed, and we were reminded that although we race old boats it really is about the boats rather than the results, getting old boats out on the water and enjoying them.

After the handicaps were applied, based on 1965 PY numbers and adjusted to reflect originality or modernisation, Wayfarer Neeno sailed by Julian and Mel was first in the old wing, Finn Django sailed by Peter Vinton was first in the Classic wing and National 12 Two Horses sailed by Julian and Neil Wylie won the Vintage fleet. Little More, a Shelley design International Moth sailed by Ian Marshall won the Moth fleet and Pegasus Sizzle sailed by Andy Hayes won the very important 'more behind than in front' prize.

Overall Results: