Although poorly supported a great time was had by all participants with sunny breezy weather and a very pleasant dinner at LTSC on the Saturday night. We were able to welcome John Hobbs and Ann Biss as new comers to their first Wanderer event with their boat. Vicky and I helped them set up their boat and sort out any minor hiccups. On Saturday, I went out with them for a brief sail up and down the harbour a few times. Bob Northover & family set off for their longer cruise in the morning. In the afternoon three Wanderers set off for a cruise up to Hurst Castle and back. Vicky helmed for John Hobbs in W 1505. They had a good sail and sailed across the Solent towards Yarmouth before tacking back to head up for Hurst Castle. I sailed with two visitors Patrick & Angie Weafer in W 940. Accompanied by a local boat W 1443 helmed by John Metzner, who had missed a previous sail at Lymington due to a broken finger. Rescue cover was kindly provided by LTSC. Patrick and Angie had their first experience of a sail at sea and after a few anxious moments settled down to enjoy it. They had been booked on a training session with a Wayfarer in the Solent but the weather had not been suitable for the past three weeks. Up at Hurst castle the wind had picked up to a strong breeze and I was able to show Patrick how the Wanderer planes even with three of us in the boat!!! On our return to Lymington Patrick lost his hat overboard and I went into ‘man over board’ routine to retrieve it and he was amazed I was able to come within a couple of feet of it! Patrick must love the water as coming back to the slip, I asked him to be ready to jump off to catch the boat and he leapt off ending up neck deep in water!

Four boats took part in the LTSC ‘medium’ fleet Sunday racing (W 893, 940 and 1443). The conditions were good with overcast sky, sunny intervals, out going tide and south-westerly wind (force 2/4 gusting 5). The first race was starboard rounding of a triangular course and the second race was port rounding of a different triangular course, both set across the entrance to Lymington harbour and the ferry route! Peter and Elva (W 893) had a good start on the first race reaching the windward mark ahead of the other boats. On the down wind leg Vicky and I (W 940) gave chase closing the gap to the point where under pressure Peter and Elva hoisted their spinnaker. In this instance it did not pay and we closed the gap further. At the leeward mark Peter rounded the mark closely followed by us and we managed to tuck in and get up to windward of Peter. Working our way up windward, after the third buoy, we were amazed to see that the IOW ferry waited for us to sail through! On the second lap Peter led the three Wanderers around the windward mark closely followed by Mike and David (W 992) and John (W 1443).

The races were back to back with a significant wait between races to allow OOD to reorganise buoys. In the second race Vicky and I had a good start and were first round the windward mark but we nearly lost it when we almost broached in a strong gust. It was also tricky not knowing exactly where the buoys were and we ended up too far leeward of the last buoy. The overall positions were Peter & Elva Wallis 3rd (W 893), Mike Hamilton & David Oats 2nd (W 992) and Chris & Vicky 1st (W 940). The last bit of fun was the arrival back at the slipway only to have lifeboat flares go up. Perhaps that was PPM thinking we needed assistance!!!

Report by Chris King (W 940)