Description	2 man keelboat
Class status	Local
Length	6.4 m
Displacement	544 kg
Sail area mainsail	14 m²
Sail area jib	4 m²
Sail area spinnaker	17 m²
Aldeburgh handicap	0.752
Number of boats in fleet	44
Open meeting
Class start in Aldeburgh Week	Yes
Fleet captain	Ian Liddell
Class association website	www.lochlong.org.uk
Aldeburgh fleet website

Fleet captain's report - Winter 2006

This has been another brisk and busy year in the LL fleet. By my count there have been 65 opportunities for racing on the Alde without counting the match racing and team racing events. There has also been the Clyde cup hosted by Cove sailing club. The Wednesday evening races have proved to be very popular with 12 – 15 boats being the norm. On one beautiful evening in August there was a record number of 21 LLs taking to the water. The new and excellent caterers have been providing suppers and with the addition of the Lapwings and a handicap fleet as well as a few members just turning up for the food, the Wednesdays have proved to be very pleasant social evenings as well.

This has been Pippin’s year. She won the summer points with a clean sweep of firsts, and also the Wednesday evening points and the August points. Fortunately, the balance was slightly restored in the Regattas with Whim winning the Whisky in the May regatta and also the main regatta and the Bevan and John Gray Trophies. Eden also just managed to deprive Pippin of the Calypso bowl in the Orford Day race. Mary Gifford in Zimmer won the crews race for the Robinson Tankard. The Fife’s hosted an excellent LLs drinks party on the Saturday before the main regatta. The Semkens once again very generously had open house for a BBQ following the procession on Carnival Day. Jill Young opened her ‘view to die for’ garden for the Class BBQ and Croquet, following the Robinson Tankard race. Many thanks to all of them.

This year we managed to hold the match racing event for the Thistle trophy on an ideal day in June. We had 6 boats which sailed a round robin on Sunday morning. Eden, sailed by the junior crew, proved to be the clear winners but only after some very close finishes. We also held the Team racing for the Faolag Trophy against the Clyde. Aldeburgh won this convincingly after some good quality battles on the water with penalties being inflicted by both teams. The start of the first race provided excellent entertainment for the committee boat, with none of the boats anywhere near the line when the gun went; they were all chasing each other round in circles. After most of them set off for the first mark, Jimmy Robinson got left on the wrong side of the committee boat having picked up a penalty.

Jonathan Thomson has sold Whisper (67) to Dave Allen. Micky Steen and Isi Dow have sold Cariad (79) to Paul Taylor and Jodie. John Munns and Timothy, sailing in the beautifully restored Rowan VI (93 ), have been discovering the delights of sailing on the River Alde and the challenges of mid-tide mud! We welcome them all to the fleet.

Ian Liddell