2.4mR Open Meeting at Tewkesbury Cruising & Sailing Club

Five 2.4s headed to Tewkesbury in changeable conditions. Turning up on Friday in the pouring rain the river was actually wider than remembered. I was told that the river is 90ft wide. With four of us coming back from the worlds in Sneek there was lots of reminiscing to be done which we did quite a lot of on the Friday night.

After a damp cold night we rigged, had lunch and went for a sail. We had two good length races with the wind shifting round so that we had a beat and a run. Myself, Nev Millard and Kate Headley were the most consistent with firsts, thirds and fifths respectively.

Simon Hill with his long keel and local sailor Keith Gordon shared the second and the fourth places. With the possibility of two discards the fleet was tight overnight.

A quiet start to Saturday night lead onto a barbeque and music and much needed sleep.

Sunday saw us mixing with cruiser racing so we had a long distance race in the morning to the wire. With a game of Chinese whispers to get the rescue boat to come to the rear of the fleet to reattach Kate's forestay and Keith losing a shroud along the way there was much excitement.

I managed to lead most of the way round with Simon and Nev reengaging in their battle from the second race to finish second and third respectively. Kate and Keith were changing places at the back with Kate getting the better of Keith by the end.

The fourth race after lunch saw the wind die completely with a float downstream to the windward mark, luckily the wind came in to get upstream. Kate got her act together with both of us leaving the boys behind.

The sixth race was similar but with the edge of a thunder cloud bringing in the wind the race was a bit longer in length. Keith showed his local knowledge with a second giving him his first podium for a few years. Kate continued her progress with a third. Nev got the better of Simon at the rear of the fleet.

The 2.4 fleet really enjoys its river sailing as it is so different to what we usually race on and it is trickier than it looks. Nobody ran aground or ended up in the reeds which means we must have learnt something from last year. We are also better at getting up the grassy bank from the pontoon although all three of us disabled managed to fall over at some point.

TCSC is a really friendly club and a must sail. Our thanks to all the members especially Matt the barman. We always have a great weekend on and off the water and intend to return for the regatta weekend in September 2018.

Special thanks to the Squibs and Yeomans for dredging the slipway so it is deeper than last year. Next for the 2.4s is RYA Sailability Multiclass at Rutland followed by our Nationals also at Rutland.

Full results:

1st Megan Pascoe, WSC/CCSC/FPSC, 3pts
2nd Keith Gordon, TCSC, 7pts
3rd Simon Hill, FPSC, 8pts
4th Kate Hedley, FPSC, 9pts
5th Nev Millard, QMSC, 9pts