A morning race

We had come to Southwold to race for the Sole Bay Cup, and the Nancy Oldfield Trophy, so the plan was for two races, on before and one after lunch. There were not many competitors, as a lot of boats that might have been there were stuck in Holland after the Dutch Classic Yacht Regatta. Great Days was not intending so race, so Clive, in Quintet, the only other Bermudan there, decided not to race her, and helped out by helming the undermanned barge Dinah. Charm, Gromit, and Robinetta were the only other competitors, so a rather mismatched four boats began the race.

Mismatched boats are nothing new for an old gaffers rally, and since Southwold is a round the cans race they make it work by having timed laps, and comparing best lap time for each boat, rather than over all elapsed time.

Patient Griselda, the committee boat made one end of the line, with the other being Southwold Pier, and the first race began at 1110. Robinetta soon fell behind Charm and Gromit, but started well ahead of Dinah, and managed to extend the lead to complete her first lap about ten minutes clear. We got the topsail up for the down wind and broad reaching legs, and were effective round all the buoys, so felt quite pleased with ourselves. At that point Patient Griselda announced that Dinah and Robinetta were only going to go round once, while Charm and Gromit completed two laps.

Gromit decided to retire after completing the first race, and Dinah headed back to harbour too. Robinetta against Charm seemed like too much of a foregone conclusion, and the wind and seas were getting up, making Patient Griselda look uncomfortable rolling on her anchor, so I decided to retire as well.

We were all back in harbour by 1345, and we moored up next to Dinah. She made a very stable "pontoon" berth for us; we could not get shore lines past her!

A new boat joined us that afternoon for her first OGA rally. Lodestar is a Stella, that will be based in the Medway area, but her owners are cruising her on the East Coast this year since they bought her on the Orwell, and have fallen in love with the area.

The evening chilli meal provided by the Southwold sailing club was really good, as were the 8 different beers available for the OGA beer festival. More OGA members arrived in the evening without their boats, but I'm not sure we made much of a dent in all that beer...

Robinetta was awarded the Passage Race Cup, for having come the furthest distance (certainly not the fastest, all that engine use....). We also got 3rd place in the racing, with Charm first and Gromit second. It felt good to be going up for prizes, but very odd!