No doubt the minutes of the AGM, and a report on the social activities, will be posted by others soon, but I'll just post a brief report on the sailing, which consisted of a "race" on Sunday afternoon.
The course was triangular, 5.5 miles long, and two laps were completed. The first leg was a close reach, the second a broad reach/run, and the third a beat back to the start line.
For legal/liability reasons, the big Brixham trawlers, gaff ketches from 60ft to 80ft, are not allowed to race, and for safety reasons are started at five minute intervals. Then followed two large fishing luggers.
Half an hour after the first of the trawlers, the junk fleet started. Weaverbird was first to cross the start line, closely followed by Ti Gitu, Lexia and Fly. Hui-Mar, Chopsticks, Alanawouly and River Rat made up the remainder of the junks. There was no formal handicapping, as it was not a formal race, the regatta committee deciding "who had shown the most sailing skill".
Weaverbird (23ft) held off the bigger boats (32ft, 36ft, 40ft) until the first mark, but then their greater length told on the downwind leg.
Fly, schooner rigged with a split junk foresail, proved to be very close-winded, and took a substantial lead up the windward leg. Weaverbird, wing sail rigged, was also very close winded, and was second to complete the first lap, as Ti Gitu and Lexia didn't seem to be making good progress to windward (for reasons that were explained to me later). Alanawouly had made rather a late start, and had a lot of catching up to do.
The positions around the second lap remained mostly unchanged, but with Alanawouly making her way up the fleet to finish third behind Fly and Weaverbird. Surprisingly, both Fly and Weaverbird caught up with the big trawlers and luggers that had started a lot earlier, though we were both caught by some of the faster boats from the gaff rigged and bermudan rigged classes that had started behind us.
The sailing committee adjudged Weaverbird to have turned in the best sailing performance, with Fly second and Alanawouly third. Weaverbird also picked up the award for the boat that had come from furthest away - 380 miles.
And last, but by no means least, little River Rat, (18ft), received a special award for perseverance at the prizegiving. To have sailed all the way down from Gravesend, completed a lap of the course in water that had been chopped up into a rather confused state by the much larger vessels, suffered a knockdown with the mast in the water when approaching the finish but then picking himself up, dusting himself down and finishing in good order - well, what can I say? Perseverance seems a somewhat inadequate word. Well done, James!
PS
Blossom also started, but soon suffered a rig failure and had to withdraw.