Dragon End of Season and Prize Giving Dinner 19 Nov 2017
This weekend saw ten Dragons race for the last trophy on their annual racing calendar, the Peter Matthews Memorial Trophy; they also managed to hold an AGM and end of season prize giving dinner.
At the AGM on Saturday morning Andy Moss and Leigh Turvey signed off as fleet captains and Andrew 'Noddy' Norden was elected to follow in their footsteps. Those assembled, enthusiastically thanked Andy and Leigh ahead of their last Hurrah at the evening's dinner, before wishing Noddy well for the season ahead.
Saturday's race began with a run to Holliwell lead by Martin Makey's Ganador, before a beat to Wallaseaness. A couple of boats unwisely tried their luck on the South shore only to fall far behind the new leader, Ian Gray in Scorpio, who went on to win, followed home by Martin Makey and Mark Wade in Avalanche.
Those who had sailed had endured a cold and wet day on the water and were heartened by sparkling glasses of Prosecco as they walked into the Club Dining Room, kindly provided by Richard Leask, a visiting Dragon sailor who is always so complimentary about our Club. Other guests included Mike and Monique Hales from Aldeburgh plus Toby Atack, Trevor Cox and Ivor Alcock from the Medway fleet.
Fifty-one diners experienced another first-class service from Tony Bone, Simon Charles and their teams before the spoils of the season were handed out. Katie Cole and Peter Marchant in Beauty & the Beast were the seasons overall winner collecting the Hobbs Dragon Trophy. Mark and Mandy Wade, Ian Gray and Andy Moss also featured winning silverware. Nigel Cole was voted the Crew Prize winner and also picked up the Hectic Seal – a prize awarded at the class captain's discretion.
Massive thanks to all raffle prize sponsors including Zhik, who sponsored a racing smock won by Harriet Davies and to Dragon friends Robert and Claire Sheppard who offered a one week stay for two in their idyllic French Gite (www.lescoindries.com) won by Emma Fowler from the bar team.
Dragon sailors cannot overwinter until the presentation of the Clanger Bell; the trophy awarded to the boat with the most notable known mishap(s) of the season. Last year's recipient, Martyn Fogg, watched over while his delegated presentation team of Noddy, Katie and Harriet outed the Clanger nominees by prompting them to confess their own misdemeanours before subjecting them to a series of challenges involving potatoes, blindfolds and balloons. Despite most errant tales having a link to Nigel Cole representing the absent Rob Campbell (Quicksilver VII), the eventual winner was Andy Moss, following his teams main error of dropping the anchor without a line attached when becalmed.
To wrap the season up, Ian Gray was a convincing winner of the Peter Matthews Memorial Trophy with a second win in the concluding race held on Sunday morning. There followed, a brief but chilly presentation on the balcony in brilliant sunshine; a season could not end much better!