The 2001 Sailing season at Stone on the River Blackwater in Essex has been a roller coaster ride with mainly medium Force 3 / 4 to strong Force 5 plus winds for most of the season. While this has given some exhilarating sailing it has also resulted in many uncompleted or DNS races especially as we were expected to compete with Hurricanes which resulted in longer races. Just the wrong formulae for the aging Unicorn fleet. There are eight Unicorns in the dinghy park but only four raced on a regular basis. These were 1073 Bob Dorks, 1074 Peter Toft, 1075 Ivor Harris and 1089 Bob Higgins. Three of these four boats are Condor built fibre glass hulls of 1987 vintage while 1089 is self built wood ply hull of circa 1993 era with more hull rocker than the Condor shape. This makes for very competitive racing with any one of the four boats winning races, depending on tactics, skills and some luck. There has been an additional handicap for Bob Dorks this year as he has embarked on a major house building project on a plot next to the Sailing Club. From May onwards this has fully occupied his time and energies but with the benefit of first hand observation of the Club and sailing activities this has tempted him out for a sail on many weekends. Next Season he will have NO excuses. The Seasons results are :-

Stone Week which is held the first week of August each year also included the Unicorn Nationals this year. The weather was excellent and the winds Light to Medium which gave all 9 participants a chance to make their mark on the results table. A full racing report by Dan Jarman is included else where in this Newsletter but congratulations to Dan for sailing consistently and winning the Championship for a second year. It was also good to see our oldest competitor, Bob Higgins, convincingly winning a National race and being accorded with the Endeavor Trophy for this achievement. The Social activities of this event included a full entertainment programme each night with some excellent live bands and fun events and the entrance fee included 5 days racing and all social activities plus the Prize giving dinner and excellent prizes. Camping is free and on site. This should be an event to mark in your new 2002 Calendars for W. C. 29th July. It will soon be time to put the boats away for another winter and if possible find a warmer hiding hole for a few weeks vacation before we start sailing again in 2002. We look forward to meeting you all again next year and perhaps a few of the old and new members who have not ventured away from their own Club this year. Best wishes from all at Stone.