















What a way to end the 2011 Arden Sailing Club (near Defford) season, with a good
gusty wind giving the 8 boats some thing to play with.
With minutes before the start Tricia Wood capsized her Comet, but was able to stay
dry and climb back in to the boat virtually dry and in time for the starters horn.
A long 14 lap course was set and the boats were underway. Everyone had a clean
start with Niall Campbell and Jane Smee (Enterprise) taking an early lead and maintaining
it to the end, whilst the rest of the fleet stayed close together. Stuart Stephen
and son David (Enterprise) took an early 2nd, but had very tough competition from
Ralph Evans (Solo) who eventually managed to pull away and take 2nd place. further
down the fleet, Tricia had a commanding lead over the rest of the comet fleet until
an untimely gust caught her off guard and she capsized again, this gave Keith Stevens
the opportunity to close the gap.
After 50 minutes the course was shortened to 6 laps. As Tricia went around the
railway mark for the penultimate time she was hit by another gust and capsized.
Unfortunately the mainsheet was tangled around her rudder and forced her to retire.
While this was going on David Yule moored his Comet in the bank for a while to
have a little tea break before capsizing himself and retiring from the race. The
overall results are:- Niall Campbell and Jane Smee (Enterprise) 1st, Ralph Evans
(Solo) 2nd, Stuart and David Stephen (Enterprise) 3rd, Alan Browning (Solo) 4th,
Keith Stevens (Comet) 5th, Gregg Whitehouse (Comet) 6th, Tricia Wood (Comet) Ret
and David Yule (Comet) Ret.
That may be it for another season but members and friends are reminded of the Icicle
race on New Years Day bring some leftovers and join the fun. Also the 50th Anniversary
Presentation Dinner in January full details of which will be circulated shortly.
Anyone interested in dinghy sailing can contact Keith on 01684 833061 or you can
visit our website at ardensc.org.uk.
Arden Sailing Club is situated in a beautiful location overlooking Bredon Hill on
the banks of the River Avon at Defford near Pershore.