A Surprise Laser Fleet 2 Jul 2017

Stunning weather on Sunday meant that what started as a quiet sail for two Otters somehow turned into an impromptu RCYC Laser fleet sail when a couple of the morning Squibbers happened upon the dinghy park to find boats being rigged and couldn’t resist joining in.  First two then three, then four, then six, until eight sailors set about rigging boats – some borrowed, some owned, some rediscovered.  After a scramble for bits and ropes all eight set off with Ian Brand heard to call “follow me” and they did, for a good two hours or more, with playful banter in amongst races where rules became specially adapted just for fun.   All was going well until one got that sinking feeling when Justin Waples realised his bung was missing!  Otter Lizzie Rands had noticed the boat sitting low in the water from the start but had politely kept quiet thinking that Justin had just eaten too much lunch.  Fortunately he made it back to the pontoon of course and was heard to complain that he could have won that last race….

Otter Milly Drew gives her take on the Laser sail:

Hi – my name is Milly and I sailed a Laser 4.7 for the first time on Sunday. I really enjoyed it and it was great fun. My dad (Paul) and I went to the club for a quiet sail but ended up being part of a group of eight Lasers! As well as Lizzie Rands, we sailed with Justin, Jason, Nick, Tank and Ian. Even though it was quite light airs it was still very enjoyable. When I first got out on to the river it was quite hard to get used to the Laser compared to the RS Tera but after about 5 minutes I got the hang of it and went zooming before the wind dropped. When everyone had launched we sailed around for a bit and then we did some mini races close to the Corinthian. After that we went up to the barges and did some races there too. Near to the end of the session, Justin realised that he hadn’t put his bung in and he had to go back as his boat was starting to sink. Afterwards we went back to the Corinthian for some lemonades on the balcony. I added up all of the races people said they had won and it came to seven. We only had four races. As I was the only one on a 4.7 sail I’m sure that I won them all.