Their evening’s entertainment included a game where teams vie to create the longest ‘rope’ of clothes. If you are struggling to imagine the chaos, let me introduce you to Penny, pictured here in the Duckhams dress today. She won the honour of wearing the Duckhams dress for managing to tear her bra in two. When quizzed today Penny said “it was an old bra, and they were tugging very hard”.
The Duckhams award is presented each evening for the day’s most egregious acts of gross under-achievement. Originally Duckhams winners were presented a ‘Duckhams Oil’ cap to wear, but this has evolved to the lovely dress & wig.
The fleet finally and tenderly made their way to the start area for Race 4. The sun is shining with a hangover-friendly force 2-3 breeze. Finally we are beginning to understand some of the complexities of the Solent tides – thanks to Hamish & Diana for the tides-book by the way – and manage to go more or less the right way up the beat. Yet again, Steve Tylecote ekes out a lead on the fleet with Nigel Wakefield in close pursuit. Behind them, the pack gets stuck together along the reaches, allowing them to stretch an insurmountable lead. We are banging away in the top 10 for the majority of the race and flying upwind, eventually getting a 5th place at the end.
Our caravan pals, Guy English and his crew Ben, and Rupert & Kathryn Whelan also had a good day. If only there was a performance-rated caravan prize.
Tomorrow the race results are split into two fleets. The top half race for the Sir Ralph Gore trophy while the second half fight it out for the Marlow. The course is set at a minimum of 13 nautical miles or minimum 3 hours, whichever comes first. Add to this the 5 mile sail to the start line and it’s set to be a long day.
Right now, the caravan Sheila’s are creating some cardboard bramble-bushes for tomorrow night’s fancy dress evening. The theme is ‘Marks of the Solent’, which include Brambles East and Brambles West. There’s another called ‘Spanker’; Shame my old mate Paul Hass isn’t here.
Guy Davidson’s quote of the day:
“I could just go in a pair of swimming trunks and a bald head”
Hope its all going well at the Maritime Museum this week. The fleet sends its regards to Fe (Firefly No1).
Ben
