Skandia Team GBR

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

St.Marys Loch - Been There, Done That, Forgot 2 Buy the T-Shirt!

So, just a quick update as to this weekends proceedings.... we arrived at St.Mary's Loch...just about in one piece, going through the beautiful (when its daylight) country roads on the last stretch before you get to the club we hit upon a furry chicane! Yep about 1/2 a dozen bloody large sheep asleep in the road!!! managed to weave the car and boat through them without any damage.. yep James let me drive this year!! so we got to the club, shoved the new tent up and were in the bar by around 11pm, there was a decent hand-full of guys there already including charles (St.Mary's Commodore), Andy & Karen, Nigel & Pete and Youngy a little later - BIG UP 2 you guys for the tru meaning of St.Mary's Loch on a Friday, beer, bacon butties and great laughs! Another BIG UP to Nigel & Pete for being true SoulSailors, they'd even brought refreshers and TicTacs...cheers guys, keep it real!

So, Saturday morning arrived (well 10am) after partying till 4:20am (thats championship preparation, chapter 2!), we rigged the boat, said our hellos to a load of yachters we'd not seen for a good few months (50 odd boats turned up for the event!) and chilled for a bit until the first race @ 2pm...

Right, I'm still knackerd and i've got a bath waiting for me upstairs so this is gonna be V quick...

First Race
Sun Shone
Light Winds
Big Shifts
New faces in the front half
Banging Corners pays :-(
Playing safe didn't always pay :-(
Salty won, Malcom 2nd we were 9th.. I think?

Race 2
Didn't happen on Saturday 'cus the light wind, went off to do some tribal dancing up THE hill...

Saturday Evening
So, boats away first, drinking first last year was a bad idea!
G&T's gone up to ?1.20 ggrrr inflation, still had to keep with tradition
Drank slow and steady this year..
No particular gossip...
Arguments were had, allegances were made, more SoulSailor Racing Association members appeared.
James waz in bed by 1:30am
Ant waz in bed by 2:30am
Johnny Woodward..still partying! (he'd lost count of the Buds he'd had by midnight!)

Sunday Morning
Postponed races meant 10am first race :-(
Hangovers were rigged and a nice breeze and sun (but still bloody chilly) greeted 50-odd yachters on the line

Race 2
Nice breeze, short race, close race, good race... think we came 11th, cant remember the other places (G&T insomnia)

Race 3
Nice breeze, short race, close race, good race... think we came 7th, cant remember the other places (Shorty in Scotland in early May induced insomnia)

Lunch, Soup, Chilling, Chatting and Off We Go Again

Race 4
Nice breeze, LONG race, close race, good race... think we came 11th, cant remember the other places, to knackered to think and not doing well enough to care!

Final Race (5)
I remember this one...
Race Officer had trouble setting the line (anchor not biting?)
Lots of people go home
Start line layed several times
Countdown starts
Breeze gets up
20 secs to go
We're all on the line
The line drifts rapidly or the tide just turned...
Race abandoned...
Go Home...

Apres Scottish Yachting
So, another damned good weekend, St.Mary's Loch ran some great racing the social was fantastic, the people at the fron, the back and onshore were all great.. this is why we drive for 5 hours on a bank holiday Friday!!

So, prize giving commences, lots of prizes for all sorts of reasons, Mr.Honnor got the Masters cup, that all I want to mention :-)

So the finally, and opnly St.Marys could make this V memourable... Tim and Salty being escorted by a lone piper to the trophy table...absolute class (photos tomorrow hopefully)...

So, that was it, goddbyes were made and off we all trecked to the 4 corners of the Ent world...

See you next time @ Nottingham in 2 weekends time...

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