The hoped for wind finally arrived in fits and starts and the combined TARS and Gaffers fleet of 11 boats entertained the lunchtime audience on the balcony with some fine sailing, or at least some did! The Gaffers completed 3 laps and the TARS 4 laps in shifty conditions between the scheduled dinghy races with Idris Dibble in Argento acting as RO TARS fashion. Argento went on to take TARS race honours and David Botterill in a Bay Raider 17 the Gaffers race honours, both receiving a £50 Force4 voucher.
I had the honour of having the Chairman of BCYA as my crew who quickly found out that sailing a Gaffer, a Memory 19, is somewhat different from his own boat. As Gordon said, when the wind drops, upwind is difficult but when the wind picks up above 10-12 knots she comes alive! Unfortunately, there was not much of that on the day. However, we all had a good time and some interesting chats with other boats on the off wind legs.