On Friday Richard Cannon had a phone call from Anna Iremonger to say she would be coming, her first time to Bewl, but she couldn’t bring her Laser; Richard managed to find the supports he had made years ago for mounting a Laser on top of his Signet so was able to take it. Liz Archer crewed for Richard.
    Mike Baker took his Signet and Keith Hatton crewed for him with Lyn, Madeline, and Laurie Bridges coming as supporters.
Rodger Wheeler decided the Bosun would suit the conditions and also took masts and booms for the Laser, Pico, and Richard’s Signet; Graham Thompson crewed.
    New members Simon and Hanna Lunniss, with the rest of the family Oonie, Robbie and Dominic were coming; they decided the club Pico would be their best option and fortunately they had a substantial roof rack on the car that was suitable for the Pico; the Pico proved to be an excellent choice.
    The journey was extremely easy with no jams and only 75 minutes from Hampton; not typical bank Monday holiday traffic.
    Pursuit races were scheduled lasting 2 hours from the 10:30 start with the faster boats starting later; the Signets, with a PYS of 1265, were the first boats away at 10:58 as Simon decided not to join the racing. A Laser 4000, PYS of 908, was the last boat away at 11:24. There were only 25 entries and 5 of those were Aquarius boats!!
    The course used nearly all the marks and, following Mike Baker’s example on Sunday, had many gybe marks; a lap took about 40 minutes.
The start was a bit earlier than expected and Richard arrived at the start about 6 minutes late; the time absolutely flies by when rigging boats for a race. He very nearly capsized at the start line.
    The forecast of a 15 mph wind was about right, but for Bewl it was very shifty and variable. The sailing was very exhilarating, especially when half way through there was a hail storm with gusts of up to 30 mph. The race ended with practically no wind and Richard even used the spinnaker. There were 5 retirements which included Anna after a capsize; although it was too windy for her weight, ability and lack of practice she really enjoyed the sail.
    For lunch there was a hog roast with a whole pig being carved.
    The afternoon race had similar conditions without the extremes. Richard was following Keith and then was convinced he had missed mark B, the third one, so Richard stopped following Keith to mark N, diverted to B and met Rodger; WRONG decision it seems he had already been to B. The rest of the race was spent with close racing against Rodger instead of Keith. Well done Keith winning the Ton-up trophy for the leading boat with helm + crew ages = 100 or more.
    Simon, Hannah and family had a great time on the Pico and did very well not to capsize; they learnt a great deal. They also explored the adventure playground made of all natural materials.
    To finish off an excellent day most stopped of at the Grasshopper Pub, just past Westerham on the A25, for a carvery dinner on the way home; this pub has a very large car park so there is no problem having a number of boats.
    The next day I was still absolutely shattered.