Have you heard the one about the five hardy souls? Well, imagine if you can a weather forecast of strong winds and heavy rain due by lunchtime, yet the Solent is like a flat pond at 9.00 a.m.

The 5 hardy souls with absolute beauties of boats, 3 Sweets and 2 Swords started around 10.00. John Hayston was probably among the wisest of them as in view of the forecast he opted for reduced roach mainsail. The rest went for standard top rig.

The wind was coming almost directly from the south but as the morning wore on swung round firstly to a South Easterly and latterly to South Westerly.

One shower around mid morning with the wind speed increasing steadily and gusts probably approaching 30 mph on occasions gave the clue as to what lay ahead.

Even with start line, illustrating the real benefits of Paul’s efforts at mounting wind indicators on some of the buoys, being long enough probably for 6 or 7 boats, starting became quite a challenge. Not from potential contact perspective but the gusts came through and even these 35 pounders would suddenly leap forward meaning that gybe turns part way down the start line became the order of the day.

Racing was even closer than the results indicate, with 3 different winners from 6 races and final points scores ranging from 7 net to 20 net. Peter Fothergill’s 3 first places nailed it for him by the time that we decided that discretion was the better part! Shortly after packing up the full extent of the rain came through. All in all though an interesting morning’s sail showing just why these boats are still so popular and how majestic they look even in some of the hairiest conditions.