The weather was warm and sunny,  The location was picturesque.  Our visits to South Cerney SC, on the Wiltshire/Gloucestershire borders in 2007 and 2008 had been blown off the water  but on Sunday May 24 this year the wind was missing........ big time.

The forecast did not deliver any prospect of improvement. So race officer Neil Richardson, who miraculously kept his sanity throughout under very trying conditions, pressed on with the ten Wanderers taking part.  There was a faint hint of a breath of breeze from the east but throughout the day virtually every leg of each of the three races provided vague messages from the burgee that a breeze, however minimal , was coming  from the bow, then the stern, and then the beam.  Oh what bliss.

The first race got away 90 seconds before the Meadowcrofts in “Black Mischief” arrived to dip behind the line.  At the front of the fleet Mike Hamilton and David Oates in “Orinoco” led from Peter and Elva Wallis in “Wild Life”.    The course was a five sided polygon.   Inevitably these three crews, with lots of Wanderer racing experience beneath their buoyancy jackets, fought it out for race leadership throughout the event.

What was heartening was that the distance between the first and last crews to  finish became appreciably shorter during the day.   Those new to sailing and racing were learning fast – even under the trying conditions.  It was particularly encouraging that the two latest Wanderers to be built and sold by Hartley Laminates, W1600 and W1601 crewed respectively by Clive & Caroline Nunnerley and Chris & Gordon Yardley, attended this event.

The first race was brought to an end after nearly an hour by which time the Meadowcrofts had worked their way through the fleet but not far enough to prevent Mike and David crossing the line about 30 seconds ahead.   

The second race was a figure of eight.  The faint breeze was slightly more evident and the Meadowcrofts reached the windward mark first. Clive & Caroline Nunnerley in W1600 found their feet and got the newly polished hull of the Hartley Laminate boat to slip effortlessly through the water in the slight breeze followed closely by Peter & Elva Wallis. Clive & Caroline fell into a hole before the final leg allowing  Mike Hamilton & David Oates to creep past both the Nunnerleys and the Wallis’,  to take second place after the Meadowcrofts in first place.

After tackling Gill Grant’s generously stuffed rolls or pasta bake, the afternoon’s third and final race was a head to head showdown (do they really happen on hot sunny windless afternoons ?) between  “Orinoco” and “Black Mischief” .  “Black Mischief” led the early legs but “Orinoco” came alongside for a while and then inexplicably found its own wind channel and neatly skipped away into  a comfortable  lead.  The Meadowcrofts gave chase, even briefly deploying a mostly limp and hence disadvantageous spinnaker after seeing a more successful spinnaker reach by the Wallis’ in “Wild Life”.   “Oriinoco” won comfortably from “Black Mischief” followed by “Wild Life”. And this was the same order as the overall result.

The Nunnerleys in their new Wanderer HL 1600 finished a respectable fourth.

Not an awful lot to be learned from this event at such a pleasant and welcoming venue... except that loads of patience and watchfulness are key elements in sailing in very light airs.

Overall results:

1^st   Mike Hamilton & David Oates  W992 (Civil Service Sailing Association)   1.5 points

2^nd  Philip & Jill Meadowcroft W1541 (Salcombe YC and Henley SC) 3 points

3^rd  Peter & Elva Wallis  W893  (Starcross YC)   6 points

4 ^th Clive & Caroline Nunnerley  W1600 (great Moor SC)  8 points

5^th  Gavin Davis & Shirley Bennet W1235 (Fishers Green SC)  11 points

6^th  Peter Venning & Sarah Hickney  W 674 (Sussex YC)  19 points

7^th  Chris & Gordon Yardley W1601 (Bosham SC)   22 points

Others taking part;  Paul Downey W 590 (South Cerney SC),  Neil Doherty W1447 , A, Hoar W103 (South Cerney SC).

Philip Meadowcroft.