Chairman David reports…
With high winds and rain forecast all the “normal” racers found pressing engagements elsewhere. Even the greats like Martin and Peter W went missing…but not the Foxy Farmer. Imitating a Clint Eastwood character he strode in the clubhouse and declared he was ready to take on anyone. Well, the truth was that “anyone” had failed to arrive so the wonderful volunteers offered to run some informal races as the Director of Racing, Admiral Sir Peter Ashwell, had returned home claiming fatigue. So there was FF, solo on the water with 100% probability of winning all and any race.
Then disaster…who turns up but the Essex Wild Boys, sun glasses and sun cream at the ready for their day out in Kent (it’s further south than Essex hence the cream)….all of a sudden Mark, Dan and James are out in the storm ready to take down Foxy…and at the last minute Captain Imogen and Tom also appear….ahhhh, could this turn out to be the races of the season…well, every picture tells a story. The bookies had Mark Rainbow as the clear favourite but the pontoon heavies doctored his boat, set an impossible handicap and…..out of the mist come our heroes…..Dan took one win, Foxy another and the third…well, that requires a few pints at the Bricks to find out the winner. A jubilant Foxy said simply “It was all down to that chick Helen who taught me everything I know about racing” and confirmed he was going to celebrate by going to watch 007 in the Bromley Empire. Meanwhile Dan simply said he did not want to further upset Mark by saying anything publicly about how well he had sailed and how he would be fitting wing mirrors to his boat next time to clearly see the rest of the fleet. Meanwhile Imogen simply smiled when asked about the result of race 3.
Three likely lads who came to brave the storm…
The eyes say it all… 
Qui moi? Fermier foxy… 
The smile of confidence…
Our erstwhile peripatetic roving reporter’s insights of action on and off the water are being challenged by the chairman’s eloquent prose!
One feels that after such a performance Steve is going to have the proverbial target on his back. The fleet will be watching his every move, the set of his sails, when he tacks, the shift of his weight on downwind legs…my goodness, bedlam awaits! As for Mark, the standing of every great champion is how he reacts to such a crushing defeat… just a pity Dan did not have his GroPro to record this historic morning.
The group from the Mount Cohousing really enjoyed some proper wind and weather on the lake yesterday. So glad we came after checking the website at 8am in the morning. Rowan and Chris felt like real sailors after getting their feet wet in the stratus 1. Many thanks to those of you who made us welcome once again.
Yes definitely a big thank you to all the volunteers to get us on the water or provide tea and cake afterwards. And if you missed the conversation, we all agreed that competition makes the sailing more fun. I remember being offered the fastest boat, but can’t remember the number. The races were interesting (the wind blew stronger for each one) but I only got covered in water once. I stayed awake during Bond and can recommend the film.
Thank you for a great day enjoyed it Immensely that was unaware of my extra handicap I might of tried a bit harder to try and save my time if I knew Don’t think that would’ve happened any are thank you very much again