Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

 

That was the wind on day 1 at Queen Mary Sailing Club, as a gentle breeze oscillated around the reservoir.

 

Named after the queen consort to George V , the reservoir is a large area close to London for sailing , where the 2.4 fleet has planned to have an open meeting for the last couple of years, but were thwarted by the lack of water, but not this year.

                                                                          

 

 

 

8 courtiers ( It is the QM sailing club after all) arrived to sail on the Saturday morning. The reservoir was a perfect mirror  ( hang on this is not the Snow White story!) on our arrival. After rigging and a pleasant pre- sail chat and coffee in the club house, we were launch with some very intriguing technology ;  was it a bird, was it a plane.. no it  was some sort of crane, or moving platform.    We then set out to drift across to the start line . The wind filled in  ( I use that term loosely) to allow racing to go ahead at the scheduled time.  

 

After racing we enjoyed the sunshine - I didn't particularly enjoy being stuck in the disabled lift - I imagine it's what a chicken feels like when being roasted in the oven!  The jolly crew at Queen Mary, soon resolved the situation, allowing me to then douse the considerable thirst with a bottle of Waggle Dance . For the hardy few we then headed off for a curry, in the hope of conjuring up more wind for Sunday's sailing.

 

And it worked ! Even though slow to start ( we were postponed by an hour) - a strong breeze filled in. The starts  were very punchy on day 2 and the racing close . Good tactics were crucial to the winning of the event, which saw Iain Stowe take the top spot, followed closely by Steve Bullmore and Carol Dugdale ( who were tied on points)