Cherubs at the Mayflower Sailing Club Final Fling

Gavin Sims & Simon Goodwin in their Cherub 'Mango Jam' at the Mayflower Sailing Club Final Fling © Tom Gruitt / www.fotoboat.com

Alex Adams & Jim Champ sailing their Cherub Halo Jones (an Italian Bistro design) at the Mayflower Sailing Club Final Fling © Tom Gruitt / www.fotoboat.com

In spite of a dire weather forecast Six Cherub teams arrived with boats for the Final Fling at Mayflower SC Plymouth (plus a few more without boats to see the anticipated fun!). This time the weathermen were exactly right, and on Saturday there were little bits of metal round the dinghy park – the remains of the chains that the dogs had been blown off some time before. Some desultory rigging went on, but all were waiting until Dave Curno (the Race Officer) got back from his trip out to inspect the sound. A wry grin told it all, followed by the information that he'd recorded 36 knot gusts on more than one occasion.

Next morning it still looked exceeding windy. It was funnelling across the dinghy park in some style, and little more rigging was going on than the day before. However this time Dave Curno arrived back with a grin and a thumbs up, and the pace of rigging increased.

Well, it increased for those of us who believed him. One sailor had been up all night talking to a customer by mobile, another had gone to the usually easier launching at the Mountbatten Centre across the water and couldn't launch in the unusual Northeaster, and one brand new boat decided discretion was superior to Valour!

So a dimished Cherub fleet set out with an equally diminished Lark fleet and only one solitary representative from all the other scheduled classes! However once we were out there it was really quite manageable, probably mid Force 5.

In Race one Gavin Sims and Simon Good win in Mango Jam led away, with Alex Adams and Jim Champ in Halo Jones a close second, and Will And Lucy Lee in Norwegian Blue following after going swimming on the beat. Halo Jonmes pitchpoled in some style on the run, so Mango won easily with Halo managing to hold off Nblue with roughly equal numbers of swims each.

In Race two Mango pulled off a really classic port ender, just clearing the others coming in from the Starboard. This got them quickly to what was the right (in both senses) side of the track all day, and they were never really in danger of being caught. Halo spent one downwind leg wondering where on earth the horsepower had gone, until they realised there was not, as it appeared, a tiny strand of weed on the rudder – instead it was the tail end of a truly enormous agglomeration on the daggerboard. Norwegian managed to fall in on top of a heap of the stuff – probably because you can't steer with it round your rudder, and ended up with it all festooned round the rigging like dirty green Christmas tinsel. Photos are awaited!

In Race three Halo tried the port approach, but had to duck Mango. As this put them first to the right side they didn't care much! An exciting final race ensued, with the two of them swapping gybes at totally ridiculous closing speeds on the runs. Mango took the race though, for a clean sweep with three bullets. Halo was 2nd, and Norwegian Blue third, with the non-starters sharing a somewhat technical 4th place!

Racing and safety cover was efficiently as ever run by Mayflower's competent team, and hot pasties and sausage rolls were especially welcomed!

Overall Results: