The Burnham Dragon Fleet have not been idle these past few weeks. Far from it. There have been a myriad variety of regattas around the country. The Burnham Dragons are renowned for travelling in the summer months and this year has been no exception. But we were back on the Crouch with a vengeance last weekend, welcoming 11 club members to have their first sail in a Dragon on Saturday morning. They all enjoyed themselves and we hope that they will come back for more during the rest of the season. If anyone else would like to have a go, let the fleet captain know and we shall get you onto the water in our beautiful yachts.

After the successful East Coast Championships at Burnham in May, fleet members travelled to the Medway for their annual Keelboat Regatta, to Aldeburgh for their Dragon Open Regatta and to Torquay for the Edinburgh Cup, our nationals. One intrepid boat also ventured to France for the Open International de Deauville.

Last weekend saw all the Burnham Dragon fleet out on the water for one of our Key Weekends. This entails a start one hour earlier than usual, thus allowing us to get in two races. The wind was from the SW so for the first race we opted to do Cliff Canewdon twice, allowing us a beat further up river than we usually do. It was a win for Ian Gray, Ian Simmons and Rene Nel in Still Crazy after a closely fought race. The lead changed a number of times, with Avalanche, Mark & Mandy Wade and Nigel Cole fighting tooth and nail with Still Crazy and, in a surprise move by the cunning crewman David Warner, Dublin Bay, very well helmed by guest ringer Flynn with crew Geoff Butcher.

For the second race a special course took us to the little used West Quay buoy then a beat down to No 13 buoy, three rounds and fighting an increasing foul spring flood tide on the run. Luckily the flukey wind held out, leading to an intense run back to the finish. Avalanche had held the lead for most of the race and opted to go along the north shore, pursued by the lightly crewed Beauty & the Beast, with Peter Marchant breathlessly assisted by Mrs Marchant, poor lady. From Creeksea Point it looked as if they would have it all their own way. But that was not what Still Crazy had in mind, for the grizzly countenance of Ian Gray set his chin hard and opted to cross the tide at the Essex Marina quay and take the south shore. Dublin Bay had to settle for bringing up the rear, whilst the decisive Andy Moss began by going along the north shore before opting to daringly cross to the south in a vain attempt to catch the top three boats. In a nail biting finish Avalanche crossed first with a still accelerating Still Crazy squeaking in to second place on the south shore, almost immediately followed by Beauty up on the north shore. By this time the tide was not so much foul as downright smelly and it was a struggle for boats to reach their moorings. Several of the other classes had to be rescued by our ever helpful launchman, Dave. In fact, Hands Off sensibly opted to retire and sail directly into their mooring buoy, rather than go over the finish line and then have to fight to get back to their far off buoy.

Which all left us wondering how the mass club handicap start race on Sunday would go. Well, as it turned out. The sun was warm and shiny, the ebb tide was a little less unpleasant and with the wind from the NNW the race officer decided to send us off to Cliff, 13, Cliff Reach. For the entire race we were joined by Justin Waples in his daring Flying Fifteen, Sparks & Bubbles. No matter what, he could not shake us off. No matter what, we could not shake him off. The start was excellent and must have looked especially splendid from the RCYC club house. It was also very pleasant to be sailing along the upper reaches, for the club at least, of the River Crouch and to spy all the RCOD owners and crew spilling out of Creeksea church. For this race David Warner opted for the tried and tested helm of himself, but was unfortunately called OCS at the start, leaving him to trail behind the rest of the fleet fighting for supremacy. And at the finish, it was Ian Crazy who took line honours in our class, followed within a three minute window by Avalanche and Beauty, sporting ace crew Noddy to assist the very able Katie Cole and then Hands Off.

Off the water the fleet had a magnificent Saturday BBQ, organised and hosted by Mark & Mandy Wade at their appropriately named Dragon Close home. The evening sunshine was wonderful, the Dan Hull supplied burgers and sausages were smashing and the puddings and ice creams were divine. We were joined by two ancient mariners, Rob Campbell and Barry Stanford, who both felt that had they been sailing they would have won every race. As it was, they were welcome spectators to our delightful weekend of summer racing.