Racing on Tuesday, August 28, saw nine boats on the water hotly contesting for the Cornish Down Bowl in a strong wind. Six Ospreys, one each of a Redwing Rs 400 and a Scorpion battled it out, with the eventual winners being Peter Rose and Oscar Thompson in the Scorpion, second Steve and Jas Stubbs in the Rs 400 and in third Bill and Nan Dowell in the Redwing.

The next races took place on Saturday, with three races. Seven boats took part in all three with race one’s results as follows, first Steve Stubbs and Martin Munro in the Rs 400, closely followed by Peter Rose and Dyfan Williams in an Osprey and third Mike and Deanna also in an Osprey.

Race two saw Mike and Deanna coming home first, with Huw and Carwyn Owen coming second, both in Ospreys, and third Steve Stubbs and Martin Munro in the Rs 400.

Third race saw a change at the top again, with Jon Nuttal coming home first in the Phantom, then the Rs 400 with Steve and Martin then third Mike and Deanna.

Cruiser Racing

The cruiser race on Tuesday, August 28, saw another nail-biting race with potential winners changing throughout. There was a long beat to the Red Giltar buoy with the inshore route favouring. However, the tide seemed to have started ebbing earlier than anticipated, resulting in some boats over standing before rounding the mark. with Aries, Apatshe, Slipstream, Heather and Accolade all quite close at this stage.

Blake in Slipstream hoisted his spinnaker first on the starboard reach to North High Cliff and slowly pulled away and was starting to catch Aries. A broad reach on port followed from North High Cliff to the Harbour. Steve in Aries maintained the lead and made his time to finish first and Slipstream managed to pull away from the rest to finish second on handicap. Denny in Heather was third, Phil in Accolade fourth and Billy in Apatshe last (problems with tangled halyards reported)

Then the race on Sunday started at 10.15 am. The rain and early start time reduced the entry, but the two yachts in contention for the season’s trophy were not put off. There was a long beat to the North High Cliff Buoy after the start. Steve in Aries got away first on starboard, but Blake in Slipstream put in a short hitch towards the lifeboat slip and later took advantage of a wind shift towards the south and ended up well to windward of Aries. Slipstream maintained the lead with the wind increasing and rounded NHC first. There followed a spinnaker run to the finish at the harbour. This means that with the extra win for Slipstream the last race tomorrow (Saturday) at 4.15 pm will decide the overall winner for the season. Rules for breaking ties may well have to be consulted.

It has been another very successful racing season for the cruiser fraternity, with only one race left to go in the series before the end of the season and the boats getting lifted out. On average, five cruisers took part, with a combined amount of 15 sailors. With the handicap system having proved about right, everyone has managed to win at least one race this season.

Junior Sailing

Numbers last week went back to normal after the summer holidays, with 25 youngsters enjoying a pleasant force 2 to 3 westerly. A few adults also took advantage of the presence of the safety boats to brush up their sailing skills.

As ever, the kitchen and bar were busy afterwards, making it a good social occasion.

Sessions will continue every Wednesday until the end of September, with a junior end of season party on Wednesday, October 10.

Helpers Party

As a big thank you to all the people who helped make this year’s Tenby Regatta and Scorpions Nationals a great success, there will be a Bangers and Mash helpers party at the club on Saturday, September 15, from 7 pm. Food will be laid on for all who helped out; for anyone else wishing to come to the party, the cost of the food will be £6 pp. It is an opportunity for all to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of all the helpers, many of whom gave up their precious time and holidays to help out the club, and without them staging any event would be impossible.

Membership

Membership forms can be obtained from either the club’s website www.tenbysailingclub.org.uk or at the club itself. As the season is starting to draw to a close, if you take up membership at the current rates you, will get the rest of this year and the whole of next year included. There are many advantages to being a member, a few of which are discounted bar prices, access to showers and toilets on the harbour and priority for social events. Please see the website for full details.

Commodore’s Quiz

The next quiz will be held at the club on Saturday, September 29. All are welcome to take part. We are raising money for the RNLI and as you know this is a very worthy cause. The cost is £5 for a team of up to six people or £1 if you think you can go it alone. There is also a raffle running alongside the quiz at £1 a square. So, if you think you are the brains of Tenby or just want to come down and have a laugh while raising money for the RNLI, it will start at 7.30 pm.

Socials

As part of the Tenby Arts Festival, the club is playing host to a couple of event. The first is a play on Saturday, September 22, and is called ‘Dance of the Stickfighting Warriors’. It’s two men - one tells the story and the other plays the music. Ticket prices are £10 and it will be held in the top room of the club. As space is limited, early arrival would be pruden. The start time is 7.30 pm to 10 pm. Then on Tuesday, September 25, it’s the Pint-Sized Plays. This consists of three 10-minute plays in the main bar area.

Friday, October 26 - Pickle Night. Why Pickle Night? Slowly the news of Lord Nelson’s death began to spread. It reached Gibraltar on Ocober 24, 1805, and the Gibraltar Chronical rushed out a special edition, which contained a letter Vice Admiral Collingwood had written to the military Commander-in-Chief, with a French translation for propaganda purposes. It reached England in the early morning of November 4 when the schooner HMS Pickle encountered the Cornish fishing fleet and hurried the news to Penzance.

The evening is a social gathering to celebrate the victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, but the unfortunate death of Admiral Lord Nelson. Although there is a little bit of formality to the occasion, it is good fun, with food and booze all included in the price. The cost is £20pp, however the more people we get, the less it could be. It will be held in the club room and will be set up as tables of six. Don’t worry if you are not part of a table, we can fit you in. Space will be tight, so booking will be essentia. If you would like to take part in this fun social night and in period costume, please email [email protected] with your name, names of persons on your table and any dietary needs with the subject box as Pickle Night. This is a members’ priority event.

Now the summer sun’s heat is diminishing, it will not be long until we all have to think about Christmas and New Year as it will be with us sooner rather than later. There will be a Junior Christmas Party on Friday, December 7, and an all members Christmas Party on Saturday 15th; also there will be a New Year’s Eve party at the club with food laid on (members priority), so beat the crowds in the town and plan to spend it down the club. Again details and cost to follow, please email [email protected] with names of those attending, with New Year’s Eve in the subject box.

Annual Dinner

This year’s annual dinner-dance will take place at Trefloyne Manor on Friday, November 9 (slightly earlier this year due to the Blues Festival also being a week earlier) - details to follow, with the AGM on Friday 23rd starting at 7.30. The dates have had to be unavoidably split this year due to events being held around the town commemorating the ending of the First Word War 100 years ago.

By The Commodore