As always the sun shone at Morley Hayes and the 19 Competitors enjoyed a good days Golf. Divided into two divisions above and below 18 Handicap. John Barber (H'cap 16) with 36 Stableford points claimed the Centenary Sheild and Chris Coldwell (H'cap 19) with 36 points the McNally Shield. Terry Bell of Sheffield presented the Trophies.
John & Chris receieve their shields from Terry Bell.
The rest of the field show their smiles on the 18th Green.
Above Ron Smith(19) nearest the PIN in 3 on the 18th (Not many were!) with John Gough(34) longest drive on 13th .. just pipped PJH! & Chris Coldwell and on the right Peter Passmore(21) Stuart Musgrave(26) and Eric Bromley(21) .
To the left Malcolm Nesbitt(28), Barry Young(31) & Simon Balckamore(32). and to the right Ken Swadling (14) Terry Bell(**) and Alex Bowen (26)...
Above John Barber (36) & Lew Easter (27) Resting in their "CART" while above Hugh O'Neill (26) the "whipper- in" supports Geoff Beecroft (31)
Finally we have the 1st Tee Alastair McCulloch(35) Paul Houghton(23 and nearly the longest drive!) & Mick Nicholass (28) .. all showing how the sun can shine when the right arrangements are made.
An excellent day and appreciation for the support from the RMS was recorded.
Yachts were chartered from Lymington and the plan was to sail the boats to Hamble on Monday. Complete five races during Tuesday to Thursday and return the yachts to Lymington on Friday. I joined my crew, largely from Essex Region and skippered by Mary Fasham (Retired) , on the Sunday evening to take over our yacht, a rather nice 42 foot Jenneau with all mod cons, and plan the week ahead. Forecasts were mixed with light winds towards the end of the week, but what was immediately apparent that our plan to reposition the yachts on Monday was a non-starter. The tail end of Hurricane Katya was about to hit the UK and only the foolhardy would venture out! So Monday became a rather pleasant relaxing day, albeit breezy, enjoying the delights of Lymington but with both feet firmly planted on terra firma. Weather on Tuesday was a significant improvement with blustery winds but the south- westerly direction provided a fast comfortable run to Hamble. Having lost a day’s sailing, the race programme was revamped to try to and provide four races across Wednesday and Thursday, rather than the planned five. Wednesday was a much better day with some good wind and excellent sailing conditions allowing two enjoyable races to be completed. Thursday morning broke with glorious wall to wall sunshine, but as forecast on Sunday, not a breathe of air! We all motored to the start line in mid-Solent, anchored and reached for the sun cream. However patience paid off and after four hours a sea breeze finally filled to allow a single race to be completed in challenging conditions with a strong spring tide running. So how did we do? Well enough; of the three races sailed we got two firsts and a second to be the series winner for the Vigilant Cup. Did everything go as we planned? Of course not; and there is always someone with a camera to evidence it when it goes wrong. As the photo shows, flying a spinnaker sideways is not the recommended way......but amazingly it pulled quite well!! 
Above Ron Smith(19) nearest the PIN in 3 on the 18th (Not many were!) with John Gough(34) longest drive on 13th .. just pipped PJH! & Chris Coldwell and on the right Peter Passmore(21) Stuart Musgrave(26) and Eric Bromley(21) . 
