Is it that time already? I asked myself when we were packing the car up with sailing gear & some non sailing gear (not worn too often now that we’re sailing both Wednesdays & Sundays) getting ready to pick up our boats to go to Aberdyfi for the second time.

The Friday actually wasn’t too bad a day & we met a couple of waifs & strays in the form of The Red Baron & Day-Glo Dave, who, it seemed have packed to go on a two week holiday to Majorca! Lilo included!

So faffing done, boats strapped in, pre-checks carried out at the end of the drive & we were off back to the lovely Aberdyfi & the welcoming crazy smile of Des, who does a fantastic job of arranging it all at the Welsh end.

There had been the rumour, via e-mail, that the weather was going to be wet & windy (emphasis on the windy) – 19 knots, but as the week went on & e-mails to’d & fro’d, as did the phone calls & texts to say that the wind was dropping – to 16 knots – waheey!

After the staggered arrival of the Fleet & the dropping off of baggage & boats, the race to choose the best bedrooms in Celtic House, the 10 of us made our way to the Bistro on the Square for our dinner, & we were met by Dave Allen & Heather to celebrate the weekend & also our Solo Dinner.

No sign of the GP’s though?? Last year, they had been just over the other side of the room, but there was not a cleavage to be seen, well not a winning one anyway, but after the flowing of wine & much chatter, we meandered over to the sailing club and found where they were all hiding – in the beer!

Not much time for that though, there was serious sailing to be done on Saturday and noting this, The Baron & Day-Glo Dave were the last ones back to the house.

Saturday came, as did Fantastic Mr Fox – hurrah! So did the wind – boo! Low tide, wind over tide, whatever, I was not going to be sailing in that – especially when the windicator kept tickling the 6-7 force mark. I’m sure last year we were waiting around for the wind to come!

Out representing the Solo Fleet was TA (Gareth), New Boy (Dave Thursfield), Fantasic Mr Fox (no name required – there’s only 1), Day-Glo Dave (Williams), The Hairy Legged Beastie (Ian Curnow) & Spotted Dick (Derek). All filled with Linda’s fantastic breakfast. Given that the rest of us were not sailing, we felt it was only right to be the ground crew. So we looked as though we had sailed – that was the main thing.

The 1st race showed the wind picking up & the capsizing of all Fleets picked up, Spotted Dick was the first to come ashore after the wind picked up even more, and I ran out to help him and was trying to see where Gareth was, when Derek pointed him out taking his boat for a walk along the shore – now something looked not quite right, what was it? The fact that he was ashore? Not really? That he had had a shave? No. He was wearing his glasses for the first time sailing? No. The fact that the mast was at a right angle? That’s the one!

So, we were the Formula 1 of sailing, spare boat-well, spare mast anyway! Natural Blue was going to go out in some way or other.

Whilst we were tending to TA, the Solo racing was fast & furious, with New Boy out in front & Day-Glo Dave, Ian & Fantastic Mr Fox following not too far behind, though Fantastic Mr Fox’s capsizing & recovery technique was being tested to the extreme! After hitting a sand bank though, Ian’s rudder took a bit of a knock & the Solo Team sprung into action.

After a lunch break, nibbling on the packed lunch that had been prepared, saying a welcome hello to Chris Rolle, who had come down to observe the racing, Race 2, had the poorly two Solo’s back out on the sea, ready to race! Hurrah, TA capsized with my mast on the 1st beat – boo! He got back up again – hurrah! Meanwhile, Fantastic Mr Fox was away, being hotly pursued by New Boy, Ian & Dave, only for Ian to have a serious mishap at the mark – beautifully photographed by Les and TA caught up with the fleet, Rod managed to keep his boat upright and raced superbly in the conditions to fly away with first place, New Boy to clinch second, TA to make a remarkable recovery to get 3rd, snatching it from Day-Glo, who came 4th & Ian in 5th place.

The last race of the day, showed no real let up in the wind or the Solo sailors, as with the points being very close, they were out to race hard! So hard in fact that after the capsizing drill got too much, as did the wind, Ian retired & Fantastic Mr Fox came over the finish line in reverse and felt retiring was the honourable thing to do, leaving TA & New Boy to take 1st & 2nd place respectively.

Upon returning to the fabulous Celtic House, snoozing & beer was the order of the day, but we were ready to attend the club & we were kitted out – Team Solo – in our stunningly fashionable Natural Blue (of course) Solo shirts. We were the envy of the GP Fleet – jaws dropped at the blueness of those shirts and the physique of the sailors within them.

The last day showed a drop in the wind, but given that points were tight there was all to race for between TA, Fantastic Mr Fox & New Boy. With the drop in the wind the remainder of the Fleet felt that had to have a salty toe dip in the sea & set off, with me being ground crew again – I had sacrificed my mast!

‘Sailing through soup’ was the description of the racing in general & with two races, back to back, the avoidance of croutons & quite frankly moored boats, wind surfers, water skiers and the like was the order of the day. The Red Baron & Dave ‘Maybe’ Allen were out on the water, joined also by Les, who found the soup sailing a tad too much & I was there ready to help him ashore, jeans rolled up, freezing sea water lapping between my toes – Brrrr!

Close racing was the order of the day & TA got his second 1st of the event & this meant that there was all to race for and with the help of my mast – he stayed in the upright position, followed closely behind in 2nd Fantastic Mr Fox, New Boy in 3rd, Day-Glo in 4th, Ian, 5th Maybe Dave, Derek in 6th, Day-Glo in 7th & The Baron in 8th.

The last race proved to soupy for The Baron & ground crew came to the rescue, but Day-Glo Dave came into his own & held off Fantastic Mr Fox from 2nd for the majority of the race & New Boy was vying for his place on the podium, but Day-Glo was having none of it, he may have been passed by Fantastic Mr Fox, but he was not going to be passed by anyone else & his third place was a certain!

Prize giving upstairs took place after the drenching by the rain that finally came as the boats were being packed away, and the first prize for the Solos went to TA who won a Volvo Sailing knife, which subsequently bit New Boy upon close inspection. Wine was the upgrade from the rock last year, but whatever it was, the weekend was excellent & we all hope to be there again next year, with better weather & more Solo sailors!