The Commodore’s Cup is our annual cup race in which the Commodore (or most senior committee member taking part) gets a 60 second head start over the rest of the fleet, who try to catch the Commodore and deprive them of their namesake prize.

This year, Janice (Club Secretary) gallantly stood in as honorary commodore, giving her a 1 minute head start in each of the two (roughly) 35min cup races.

Taking maximum advantage of her head start, Janice appeared to have an unassailable lead as the race reached the half way mark, but with the wind dropping, Steve stormed through in his Byte CII to win the first race comfortably from Ray, who lead home the fleet of Comets, despite going the wrong way, hitting Tim and capsizing. Tim was third, John fourth, Neil fifth in the Laser, losing out on handicap, Janice sixth and Richard seventh, with Jackie (Pico) and Dennis (Heron) bringing up the rear.

The second race, which took place in increasingly blustery conditions, saw Richard pull away from the pack to obliterate Janice’s lead within just a few short laps, taking the win from Steve, Ray, Neil and Tim. As the race came to a close, however, Janice’s biggest opponent turned out not to be the rest of the fleet, as she was finally defeated by an enormous gust, meaning she had to climb out of the lake having found it impossible to return to the jetty upright. It was a baptism of fire for new member Will who launched his new comet in fluky winds with all points of sail available on each beat.

When the overall points were totalled, Richard finished third (7th and 1st), Ray second (2nd and 3rd), and the Commodore’s Cup 2018 was won by Steve (1st and 2nd).

Big thanks to Rob for DO’ing and Phil and Arthur for assisting. Better luck to the Commodore next year.