8 boats rigged for the Round the Island race, but with 6 foot waves on the slipway OOD Bob decided to send out the Safety Crew in the Jeanneau and sail a simple triangle in the Bay. Launching was a matter of ‘choose your wave’. Neil decided to choose one of the larger waves and ended up with two halves of a tiller. Fortunately for Neil, Pete decided not to risk his boat, but was happy to risk his tiller and lent it to Neil. The next 5 launches went a little better but with Robin (after helping Pete to launch the rest of us) opting to join Pete on the shore there were 6 boats in the race.
The wind beyond the waves was a manageable Force 4 (for some more than others) and Steve led Neil and Andrew round a short course for a lot of laps.
Bob by then was exhausted with recording all the lap times so asked the Patrol Boat to set a larger course. Robin joined the fray for the second race and was so keen to get going that he started about half a minute early. After being sent back, capsizing, and whatever, he was some way behind and chased, but never caught Jason (maybe there were some more capsizes). At the front, Steve and Andrew were together at the first mark with Neil some way behind. With the wind increasing, but not quite to the force 7 recorded at Nells Point, Steve pulled away and Neil fell back (more capsizing?) so the race finished with Steve first, Andrew second and Neil third.
Nicolas and Danny found the conditions quite exciting and Danny was kind enough to let Aran sail his boat back in. Chris and Aran did sterling work in the Jeanneau but hero of the day award goes to Pete who despite being washed ashore half a dozen or more times by the waves, got us out and in in more or less one piece (and his tiller too).