A gentle westerly breeze filled in across the bay just in time for the start of the Squib race to Ringstead on Sunday, giving a very pleasant spinnaker leg all the way there, with the lead taken from the start by She and Vernon Taylor in 'Hussy', leading around a dozen Squibs and cruisers across the bay to anchor off the beach for lunch. Mark Bugler was race officer as usual, and Adrian Patterson provided support in the RIB to get ashore when we arrived at Ringstead.
On 'First Instinct' Andy Young seemed to have enlisted half the club as crew, though motivation was apparently greater for fishing than sailing; Iain Jones had a rod over the side even before the start, and son Adam caught his first mackerel on the way across the bay! With the entire crew leaning over the back in support, it's not surprising that the next one jumped off the hook in terror..
Calm conditions made it easy to get ashore, and, under Mark Bugler's supervision, portable barbecues were soon alight (some requiring Mark's special 'accelerator' treatment!); the smell of fresh mackerel as well as sausages, burgers and kebabs, drifted across the beach, until everyone was fed and then some. Finally crews cleared up and left the beach as the SW breeze filled in again, this time heralding Monday's depression which made us grateful that we had had such good weather for this event this year.
Steve Fraser
Cruiser Class Captain
