Eleven sailors in 9 boats lined up for the August Get Racing at Draycote Water. Adults were in Lasers (or Radials) while the children spread over Toppers, Teras and Fevas. There were three newcomers to Get Racing, plus some old hands.

At the usual briefing, participants were taken through the racing procedure, but also given a few tips on how to sail round the course successfully, based on observing previous Get Racing sessions.

A gentle breeze was blowing, and the sun was shining, it was time to Get Racing and the teams sailed down to the start at the far side of the lake. The race officer set a windward leeward course for Get Racing, while the other fleets did a longer course. This was designed to give a slightly shorter race, but it did cause some confusion and there were some navigation issues as a result.

Nevertheless the fleet started reasonably close to the start line, with Heather Guppy, in her Laser Radial, flying at the gun. She shot off to round the first mark first, ahead of all the full rig Lasers, and extended her lead all the way round.

Back in the rest of the fleet there were some battle royals going on between children and their parents – it wasn’t so much the handicap results that mattered – they wanted to finish ahead on the water! Heather didn’t need a handicap to give her victory, taking line and handicap honours.

In the afternoon, only two boats ventured out, but they were rewarded with a lovely sail around the lake in a slightly fresher breeze. The Laser unsurprisingly finished ahead of the Feva, but when the handicaps were worked out there was just 4% difference in their times. Victory went to Eduardo Moran in the Laser. It was deserved because he showed a marked improvement on the morning race – which is one of the joys of this programme – seeing how quickly people can improve in the low key, informal environment of Get Racing.

Get Racing takes place at Draycote Water on the first Sunday of every month, and Club members can use Club boats for free to participate.

Race 1

1^st           Laser Radial        Heather Guppy

2^nd          Feva                      Guy Dewkes & Dasha Sutton

3^rd          Laser                    Michael Jewkes

4^th          Topper                 Luke Guppy

5^th          Laser                    Eduardo Moran

6^th          Feva                      Sophie & Carla Fickling

=7^th        Laser                    Steve Jeffs

=7^th        Laser                    Oliver Fickling

RTD        Tera                      Jess Mackenzie

Race 2

1^st           Laser                    Eduardo Moran

2^nd          Feva                      Guy Dewkes & Dasha Sutton