2000 Millennium Series Round 6 at Stone Sailing Club

2000s at Stone © Ron Mehta

With rain, sun, good breeze and light winds, it's reasonable to say that round 6 of the 2000 Class Association Millennium Series held at Stone Sailing Club over the weekend of 7th and 8th of September had something for everyone.

A good turnout of 25 boats set off from the beach at 12.15pm on the Saturday to make their way to the race course and were soon met by a squall which, if nothing else, blew some of the cobwebs away and proved a perfect hangover cure for anyone still suffering from the night before.

Fortunately, before racing actually started, the squall had passed and the fleet started race one at the second time of asking. The wind, from the north, fluctuated in strength throughout the day to such a degree that during the last run to the line during race two, there were a few crews who decided to go for a swim. As a result, race three was delayed while the support boats helped said crew get their masts pointing upwards.

Saturday evening started at 6.30pm with a lovely meal which was soon followed by Skip Atkins playing his guitar. He eventually had backing vocals provided by the "Stone choir" who clearly have an ability to put their own unique twist on every song they sing. I think it's safe to say that most of us had heard nothing like it before...

2000s at Stone - photo © Ron Mehta

Then followed the games night with the usual fun provided by our games host Mr Simon Wakefield. The games included skiing, sack race, cracker eating, wine tasting (went down well) and the SSC version of curling. It was a really fun night with lots of laughter and smiles all around.

Sunday dawned with a slightly fresher northerly breeze than forecast. Everyone involved in laying the course really had to work hard with race marks having to be moved due to the shifting wind. At times the wind was challenging with big headers (which seemed to follow me around the course) and lifts (which I missed most of). Only one capsize today (not me for a change) when one boat sailed into a big hole and they went in to windward. Race six was a particular challenge with the marks having to be moved during the race, so thank-you support boat crew.

The winners collected their trophies which were well deserved after some impressive sailing and I collected my beer at the bar, which I thought was equally well deserved. Congratulations to Dicky Parr & Paula Maas who were the first placed Stone boat in 8th place.

This was the first time the 2000s have visited Stone Sailing Club and our newly established 2000 fleet. We would like to thank all our visitors for joining us and look forward to seeing them again at forthcoming events.

Overall Results: (top three)

1st Simon Horsefield & Katie Burridge (A.S.A.) 6pts
2nd Rob & Sarah Burridge (Weir Wood) 8pts
3rd Miles Wade & Gemma Burridge 18pts

2000s at Stone - photo © Ron Mehta