Aberdyfi welcomed our fleet of 8 with open arms & we were happy to be embraced.  After arriving on Friday to watch the GP fleet injure each other before they had even started, was a pleasure, with Tim running over Hillary's foot with the trailer, we knew this was going to be good.

Our Boats were given prime position in front of the club house, for people to admire proper boats, both day and night & so that they could get a taste of the sea air, before venturing out onto the sea itself.

So after sporadic attendance of the fleet, we all moseyed on down to our accommodation - Celtic House - & were most appreciative of a) the size of the accommodation for the 9 on us & b) that no one had to share a bed with Grahame - Grahame being the most appreciative of all!

Our first meal at the Bistro was very good & we arrived before the GP fleet & thankfully we left before them, as their first competition of 'biggest cleavage' took place, we didn't think that this association would have enabled us to book another table also taking into account the fact that there is not a whole lot of cleavage going on in the Solo fleet!

Saturday morning - we were woken up by the aroma of sausage & bacon being devotedly cooked by Linda (GP sailor, but more than welcome) this was a hearty meal for the sailing ahead.  On top of this, the Fleet were presented with packed lunches, (less 1 of my sandwiches - ham & tomato - after a seagull helped himself, - at least he left the cheese)! Fruit pastilles included and we were off! (Well after a slight postponement after waiting for the wind)

The first race on Saturday was light winds and this is usually a bit taxing, but when taking into account not only the wind, but the tidal current and the waves, it became a real challenge.  It became an even bigger challenge to the TA who suffered rig failure when the mast tie for the sail abandoned ship & he had to make on sea adjustments - interesting.  This gave Dave - New Boy - Thursfield the opportunity to pass TA & keep his lead to come 1st - what a start to the day!

Race 2 - the wind picked up - so did the waves.  Now this was interesting!  TA blasted off & was hard to keep up with, let alone catch blasting into 1st place, followed by New Boy (nicely recovering from a capsize), the Hairy Legged Beastie - Ian, and by me, with Derek, Grahame, Les & Alan to follow.  Those who were up for endurance went out for the last race of the day, but my legs & arms were too wibbly & this effect had also spread to Grahame & Les - so boats away, we 3 watched the intrepid 5 sail out to cross the bar into choppier seas - lovely!

It was a beat up, across the bar &, so they tell me, the waves were bouncy.  TA rounded the mark first followed by Dave & Ian, then with Alan & Derek battling through.  Unfortunately (although not for Derek) Alan was overcome by the waves and went for a tumble, but he managed to get back up and stay in the race to come 5th out of the fleet for the race.  TA was off on his own, blasting down the reach to the finish & Dave & Ian battled down to the finish, with Dave closely beating Ian.  Derek whipped up behind to finish 4th.

After an excellent meal at the club house, on the Saturday night, of Salmon - though I had vegetable pancakes and Ian had a 'Grahame Special' of beer and Salmon-, listening to the elongated (but excellent) speech of Tony the GP Fleet captain - we were off to bed and ready to race the next day - following another excellent breakfast from Linda (ooh how she spoilt us all).

2 races were planned & after a postponement again, it was decided for back to back, as Des - the wonderful Aberdyfi organiser-had to catch a plane from Manchester later that day.

Light winds were the menu of the day and this played thoroughly to my advantage and was a relief to some, but there was the tidal element that was gruelling, especially when rounding marks!  Rig failure of his outhaul pinging was the order of the first race for the TA, but with the light winds, the beats were manageable & he sailed into 1st position, with myself in 2nd, after passing Dave at the last mark, followed by Grahame, Alan & Les (Derek had sail failure & was unable to start the race - although he did join in - what a good sport!)

The last race saw no increase in wind, & after beaching his boat and banging the boom on shore, TA repaired his outhaul & back to racing the second.  It was a one lap race, so all to sail for.  After a slight misunderstanding of port/starboard/gybe/tack from Grahame, the run down to the second mark made good humour for us all.  The reach to the third mark had, we thought, sorted out the places, but again, that mixture of tide & wind, and Ian parking up on the mark, made interesting racing for the 4th - 8th positions.

So that was the end of our Aberdyfi sailing for the weekend & prizes of sticks of rock were presented by the Commodore and, the lovely honorary Solo Sailor, Sabine.

In all a great time was had by all, and the owners of Celtic House have provisionally booked us for next year, so that my fantastic Fleet can visit the shores of Aberdyfi, to sail, eat, drink & be merry, hopefully with more of you to come along!

Your ever devoted and thoroughly proud Fleet Captainess.

			-Row 6, Cell 4-