Fellow Fifteeners of a similar vintage to me will, no doubt, have fond memories of an English band, ‘The Small Faces’, who recorded such memorable gems as ‘Itchycoo Park’,and ‘What’cha Gonna Do About It’. I mention this because October’s winds have reminded me of their 1966 no.1 hit, “All or Nothing”! Read on, if you will, to find out which of us flourished in this month of ups and downs.

There is only one place to start really: the great squall of the 25^th! I’m grateful that I have no idea what real PTSD is like but when I watched Richard’s fabulous video of their capsize, it brought back painful memories of our ‘disaster’ in Poole Week. I have to say, Richard managed to get back into the boat far more elegantly than I did! Prior to watching this horror show, I had bumped into Peter Biggs in the boat park. He regaled me with a very entertaining report of his experiences. Apparently, it is very difficult to stay dry when as you stand up with the tiller between your legs, preparing to drop the spinnaker, your Fifteen is hit right up the chuff by a 30+kts gust. Who’d have thought that? By all accounts, Peter was shot out the back as the bow of the boat reared up uncontrollably. If you watch on Richard’s video, you will see whilst all this drama is playing out, Dick and Pete flash by like a bat out of hell. I’m not sure whether their run for cover was entirely successful. Thankfully, everyone returned unscathed, although Peter Bigg’s glasses have joined mine at the bottom of the harbour. Hopefully they are being used by some short-sighted fish or other!

Well, the winds on Wednesday afternoons have been inconsistent, but Roberta and John in 4016 most certainly have not. We’ve had four Wednesday sails in October with three different winners; although their boat wasn’t one of them, they have only been out of the top three once: that result was a lowly 5^th! A recurring theme in the race reports is the ease with which Pete and Jo either cement a good start with a win, or make their way through the fleet if the early part of the race hasn’t gone their way. They currently sit at the top of the pile, but only three points separate the first three boats. Just behind them, in 4^th place is 4125 guided by David and skippered by Anne-Laure. Results of 7^th, 2^nd, 6^th and 6^th have done enough to secure the beers for themselves as they are October’s ‘Sailors of the Month’ for Wednesdays: chapeaux! Everyone who has sailed deserves credit because the average turn-out for this very autumnal set of Wednesdays was 18.5

Apart from the extraordinary meteorological events of the 25^th, the other phenomenon on Saturdays has been the off-wind speed of Graham S and Jack in 4020. Apparently, there’s no wind strong enough to blow our octogenarian off course! We’ve managed 3 Saturday races, one of which was the mini-series won by Richard W in 4114, this time helped by Ben S. Looking at the results, there is a fair bit of inconsistency amongst the fleet. This only adds to the impressive nature of Pete and Jo’s results of a 2^nd place and two 1^st places! Richard W’s 1^st and a 4^th might have placed him in the same bracket but he had a day off in the middle of the sequence. Still, as it stands the top three are separated by only four points. If the wind stays up, my money is on Graham S! An average turn-out of 16.6 is slightly down on Wednesdays but is still a very healthy figure.

One or two helms are struggling for a regular crew. If we can get that sorted, who knows? An average turnout in November of twenty sounds good don’t you think? I’ve already told you Pete and Jo’s results, so it won’t surprise you to learn that they have earnt themselves some beer by being ‘Sailors of the month’ for Saturdays in October. I can’t think what they’ve been doing all season waiting until September and October to come to the party. Maybe that little jaunt in the waves of Portland might have had something to do with it!

The mini-series was equally as good as its predecessor in July. Our thanks go to Fi, who was helped by Steve R. She had to give the wind a very stern talking to in order to get it to behave. Thanks to sterling work by the Fleet Captain (who gave up his sail by the way) moving marks at Fi’s command, we were set interesting windward /leeward courses. Sailor of the day must go to Ron, however, who stepped into Peter Bigg’s boat at the last-minute crewing in his dry weather kit. (the original plan was to mark shift with Mervyn). I’m reliably informed that Ron’s movement about the boat was somewhat impeded by his apparel!

Many of our fleet have firmly grasped the nettle when it comes to writing reports. Admittedly, some sailors have had to do this more frequently than others, but what has emerged is the individual personalities of the various authors in their writing, something that AI can emulate but not create (yet!?). I‘ve enjoyed reading them, I hope you have too. The standard of reporting has been high again this month, which has made it difficult to choose the winner of the ‘coveted’ pencil. I’m pleased to announce that after a few near misses, the winner of October’s reporter of the month award goes to Patrick Keats!

There’s only one job left for your faithful newshound to do and that is to round up the winners of the Rasputin Cup. We’ve had quite a few candidates since several sailors have used the windy weather to take the opportunity to check for weed on their keel whilst sailing! I won’t go into too much detail because it’s all there for you on the web-site. Here’s a quick run-down: Mervyn is the star of the show managing to win it twice in one month-chapeaux! John K, Ann K, Steve R, David T, and Rob W were this month’s swimmers, although it must be said that one of the recipients (me), was a very reluctant leaver of the boat! The latest, and, dare I say it, the youngest receiver of the award is Eddie S whose misdemeanour can only be described as failure to look after the F15 in his care. To be fair, once he’d realised that the painter he was holding after gracefully stepping onto the pontoon was, in fact, no longer attached to the boat, which had begun to retrace its steps into the marina, he did the honourable thing and jumped in after it!

Well, if like me, you didn’t get the chance to see the Orionids ( that’s a meteor shower not a band, by the way), you’ve probably missed them, but there’s always the Taurids to look out for. More earthly things to look forward to are, firstly, the race for the Barry Rolfe Challenge Trophy (fifth Saturday race of the Autumn series). If the wind gods play fair, this should be the race of November 15^th. Keep an eye open for any update on this. Second on the list but not in November is the annual general meeting of the fleet. More details will be published soon.

That’s it from me.
JK