Ripon Sailing Club Family Weekend
by Callum Priest 18 Aug 17:02 BST
14-16 August 2026
Adults in Oppies during the Ripon Sailing Club Family Weekend © Gail Jackson
Ripon Sailing Club's Family Weekend ran from Friday 14th to Sunday 16th August. The weekend started with some casual sailing on the Friday afternoon/evening.
Everyone used their own boats and as it was relatively breezy we were just trying to go fast. Once boats were put away and everyone was changed, the ROTTERS played football on the field - with people coming and going because of the BBQ - until it was dark, meaning that everyone was tired by the time they went to bed.
On Saturday there were more people and events such as the codebreaker challenge happened. Milk bottles were tied to all the marks in the South half of the lake and to the 4 coloured temporary marks and each bottle had 4 numbers written on it in different colours. For Level 1 everyone was given 2 marks to sail to and record the numbers (for example 1 Red, 4 Blue) and when you had got those numbers you came back to get a new code. For Level 2 you had to sail to 3 marks, for Level 3 it was 4 marks and after that it went up by 2 extra marks each time. Some people were given marks that were further away if they had faster boats or were more experienced sailors. By the end of the time period lots of people had got to level 6 but no one completed the whole challenge.
After lunch we did some more challenges like boat limbo, where a rope was tied between the masts of the two RS Visions and we had to tilt the boat to get under it as it got lower and lower and an Overload race, where we had a one-mark course and every time we did a lap we had to pick someone up. If we capsized in the Overload Race, we were out!
While the kids were having a snack after all those challenges the adults had their own race sailed in the kids Oppies. Racing was tight even if the boat handling was a bit shaky. For a while it looked like Ed L was going to win but Ian P got away in a lucky gust near the wreck.
After that it was the raft race in which the winner was debated as no raft remained intact fully. Team 3 was announced the winner with their two pieces of wood, several ropes, three bottles and not a partridge in a pear tree - or any kind of tree. In the evening there was pizza for tea and karaoke expertly run by Jimmy H. Most people who were there camped overnight so the social went on long into the evening.
Sunday morning started with an on the water Quidditch match sailed between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw (or Reds v Blues for the more boring grownups). Each team used 1 topper (seeker[s]); 2 club oppies (beaters); and 3 teras (chasers). The beaters had to throw footballs at the sails of the other team's chasers to make them throw the ball away - hopefully to their team. The chasers threw a ball to the Jaffa at the other end to score 10 points per ball and the snitch (a rubber duck), when caught ended the game and got the catching team 50 points (after some negotiation at the start).
Wesley T was the top Gryffindor Chaser and scored lots of goals but the Ravenclaw chasers got better and nearly caught the scores up before Gryffindor caught the snitch but only just. The Quidditch was so much fun that we had to have another match and then tried to have a third but the wind dropped so we had our lunch instead.
After lunch we had two races which everyone was encouraged to take part in. As well as entering with your sail number you had to say if you were sailing as a Parent or a Child and if you didn't have anyone else from your family sailing you could just tick the 'I am Not a Robot' box. As well as working out the individual scores the Race Team had to work out the Top Team - parent / child / not a robot, Top Family and Top Siblings.
In the prize-giving three top bananas were given out. Heidi J had a Top Banana award for excellent perseverance in the first race, Lucy P got one for winning the races in the afternoon and Ian P got one for winning the Adults in Oppies race.
In the overall scores for the racing Lucy P came first in a Streaker, followed by Richard F and Kate S in an Enterprise with Steve B (Streaker) equal on points but 3rd overall on countback. The top Child helm was Ian P with his Dad Tony crewing. Despite Ian's best efforts for the Child team, the Parents finished with the lowest average score although it was very, very close with team Not A Robot who finished less than 0.1 points away. Family scores were equally tight with the Fletchers pushing the Priests into second place by less than a point and some excellent crew work bringing the Sudrons into third place. Top siblings were Callum and Katie P, with Hattie and Emily R finishing second and Tom, Lainey and Heidi J coming third. Full results can be found on the club website.
It was a fun event with plenty of food and lots of sailing. Many thanks to the people who worked in the race box and the galley and to the sailors of course for being there.