YMs beat Old Codgers

With two firsts and a second Monty, with that grumpy bald chap Alex Pollock playing the kite and doing jib, and that hairy hung-over YM Chairman Paul Weeden (Monty's description - not mine) playing foredeck sailing for the Young Members Committee just pipped the Moorings Committee (Peter Tracey, Ruth Tracey, Simon Hanken and the CSO) with two firsts and a fifth to the impromptu Committee Room Challenge title sailed at the weekend in Seaview Mermaids as part of the Spring Excuse. Richard Powell and the Wine and Cigar Committee were third.

 It was Richard Prest's idea that the Royal Thames visit Seaview and try-out the Mermaids for a weekend, an idea that seemed nicely to coincide with the Cruising Committee's idea that a change be rung from the usual West Solent - Poole - West Solent peregrination. It was also an idea easier to have than to execute, not least due to the acute lack of safe anchorage for yachts drawing 2m or more on the East Wight. In the end, the Cumberland Fleet went to Gunwharf Quay, Portsmouth on Friday and Saturday night and cruised to and from Seaview on Saturday.  The effort proved very worthwhile and 'the Thames' eventually took residence in 9 of Sea View YC's 12 well-kept and closely matched fleet of Gentlemen's Yachts (no sitting out, hiking or wandering around on deck). Of the 9, six decided that this was as good a moment as any to revive the occasional Committee Room Challenge of Blessed Memory.

 The weather could hardly have been better: sunshine and 10-12 knots of breeze from the east. Peter Tracey started well with two bullets in the first two races, with Monty second and then fourth Maybe it was too leisurely a lunch, maybe it was a softening of the breeze and a change of tidal stream or maybe it was the reversal of the course direction for races three and four, but whatever it was the wheels came off the Tracey campaign in a big way while the YMs slotted nicely into gear with a runaway win in race three. Annabel Hunt steering for MemCom benefitted greatly from being pushed over the line at the start, returning, going the opposite way to nearly everyone else and popping out third at the windward mark in what had briefly become drifting conditions. The Moorers, however, just failed to make that same windward mark, had to gybe around and ended up flat last before recovering - if such a word can be used in such a circumstance - to seventh.

The soft sail continued for race four and it was here that the YMs really showed their mettle, coming back from a mid-fleet position at the windward mark to gybe their way up in to second by half-way down the final run and then slide by a bow's length across the line first. The Moorers were thus left having to count a less-than-lustre-coated fifth.

Results. 1 YM committee (4 points), 2 MoorCom (7), 3 WineCom (10), 4 CruisCom (12), 5 RaceCom (13), 6 MemCom (16).