What a fantastic weekend we have just had starting off with the first ever Saundersfoot Triathlon followed on Saturday afternoon by our annual Bart’s Bash event and then finished off on Sunday with the Wales Ironman which saw a carnival atmosphere in the village over the whole weekend.

The weekend was kicked-off by the Saundersfoot Triathlon on a beautiful morning with the tide right in. Crowds gathered on the harbour, while the beach was also busy with spectators. A number of our sailing and rowing members took part in this spectacle and well done to all of them.

Our main event as a club was our Bart’s Bash race late on Saturday afternoon when a multi-coloured fleet of some 30 craft with somewhere between 50 and 60 crew took part in this race under the control of our imported Scottish race team in the form of Keith, Julie and Owen, also joined by a Viking gentleman looking uncannily like Terry, and they certainly had their hands full with the varied competitors sporting a variety of fancy dress costumes ranging from Mexicans, French sailors, a smattering of Arabs, more Scottish renegades, some lederhosen, extras from the Sound of Music and a few Hawaiians, not to mention the hordes of Vikings in their longboats who had followed Terry on the day.

Some of the crews also had various forms of horns and musical instruments, and despite any confusion, Keith McJones managed to get the fleet away using three separate starts. First away were the three Viking longboats to a fanfare of Viking horns in the form of the Wiseman’s Bridge rowers who have played such a part in helping to revitalise the club this year and it was great to see them take part. They certainly sped away uninhindred by the light winds and first home was Ready or Knot, although it later transpired that they had not followed the rowers protocol. They were followed by Dirty Gertie, but they in turn antagonised the race team and were also disqualified so the winner in the end was Oarsome who picked up the prize this time.

The next fleet away were the sailing Cruisers who all got away cleanly and had a right old tussle with the eventual winner being Ray Smith in Spartacus, just ahead of John and Tonia in Elgar, but great to see the cruisers taking part.

The last fleet away was the biggest containing the sailing dinghies with over 20 boats taking part. First away was Ben ‘sheik your booty’ Roberts with middle eastern music blaring away while he bounced around like Tigger on speed, closely followed by a large fleet of competitors in carious costumes and sailing in various styles and angles. Racing was to and fro as the wind varied, but a close race was eventually won by Dave (one of the lederhosen clad sailors) who despite having completed the Saundersfoot triathlon in the morning took his second Bart’s Bash victory in a row. There are rumours that if he wins again he will be performing songs from the Sound of Music and indeed Lloyd, his fellow lederhosen wearer, seemed to be practicing some routines already. In second place were some Hawaiian sailors in the RS200 with Nick and Paula in third, while Ben ‘Tigger’ Roberts was first junior overall.

The prize for the best fancy dress went to new recruits Kiera and Amelia who collected the trophy hand-carved by Terry made from recycled materials

The evening was completed with a fantastic BBQ in the clubhouse by Dan Evans and helpers, together with various fundraising activities and by the end of the night the fantastic sum of £642 had been raised, while the £50 square prize was won by Mark and Trish who very kindly added this to the fundraising so thanks to them for their generosity so overall another fantastic Bart’s Bash event and many thanks to all of those who have organised this year’s event.

After this extravaganza, we are back to normal this coming weekend with the final two races of the main club season (before the frostbite commences) next Sunday as usual starting at 1300 with Mick and Judy in charge. Also this coming weekend, as previously reported, Hywel Jackson is off to take part in the Honda Rib Challenge at the Southampton Boat Show so best wishes to him for that. Tonight (Friday), starting between 7 and 7.30, there is the ever popular horse racing in aid of RNLI at the clubhouse so please come and support this event, it’s always good fun and in a good cause and you may even win a few quid at the same time.

Dizzy Rascals