Sunday morning saw our amazing Mirror group out on the water in pretty fair conditions for the start of Sunday Sprint Races with Restronguet Sailing Club, writes Ian Symonds. 

The St Just side looked a touch rougher but in front of the clubhouse even the youngest beginners could take part; with the water warmer, capsize drills were fun to say the least!

The afternoon saw that far St Just side get significantly rougher and the gusty winds, with huge direction variations soon witnessed the considerable sprint fleets reduced by almost half. This wind was eight knots at its gentler end to 20 plus at the tough end and varying from WNW to WSW was providing a huge challenge to sailors on a fixed course.

Race Officer Eddie Shelton set the sprint course and with only a few adjustments the first race warning sounded at 1415 hours. Six races for a sprint Sunday so these one-lap dashes are fast and furious with boats crossing the finish line en masse. 

This makes the recorder's jobs frankly insane; therefore, using a mobile phone to record the line crossing is essential.

It was 1930 hours Sunday night before the analysis of the six films with their commentary of sail numbers and times reached a point where the senior recorder could dismiss her team and go home to make fair copies for the results secretary to get them into the computer system.

Witnessing the starts in such fiercely variable winds was bordering on alarming to those of us on Oyster.

To suggest the site of 20 high-speed dinghies crossing the line at once was not unlike pheasants taking off in blind panic in front of an array of 12-bore shotguns would not be too far from a truism. There were looks of fear in some faces and in others a ‘gung ho’ style of the ‘we are not taking any prisoners’ approach and that we are going to win look was splendid.

Thankfully upsets were at a minimum, breakages as good as non-existent and smile on faces paramount on such a crazy day.

The fast fleet started with 12 boats and ended with five. The medium fleet started with 22 and ended with 18 so splendid results for these crews.

This suggests that RS200s, Lasers, Aeros and a few odds and ends found their day. The slow fleet started with two and ended not perhaps surprisingly with none.

This is no reflection at all on the crews of these two valiant Mirrors. As always in our summers the wearing of thick wet suits is still paramount to safety and warmth; RSC seems to have got the message across about getting too wet and cold and it’s gratifying to see common sense on such days.

Winners with full results will be on the club website in due course; as of midday Monday the results secretary is probably still up to the top of his sea boots in numbers and times and viewing handicaps to ensure fairness out of water-borne chaos.