23 July Gillette Series Race 14
With the wind in a tricky direction, ENE about 8-10 mph, (although it went up and down a fair bit during the race) Newton set an interesting start line using one of the orange buoy line mooring posts and the ODM with a beat down to X (somewhere in the middle going towards No 7).
Kerris (Pico), one of our Pirates had bravely decided to join the racing, but one of her pit crew let her down by leaving the bung out of the transom (or it may have been sabotage by a fellow competitor !) As the Pico started to fill with water she wisely headed for a Safety Boat and was given a lift back to the bank with the Pico in tow. Don’t be discouraged Kerris, it happens to all of us at sometime.
David C (Laser) came through at the end of the first lap with a useful lead over Julian (Solo), who was closely followed by Dave L (Laser). There was then a slight gap to Monica (Europe) 4th and after her came Nev & Mike (Leader) neck and neck with Chris A (Solo).
Mike T (Laser) was between this group and the following group of Mike C (Solo), Curtis (Laser), Paul H (Supernova), Paula (Radial), Hugh & Dean (Sport 14), Mike A (Lightning) and Hadey (4.7). This latter group enjoyed a really good battle throughout the race trading places all the time, with the exception of Curtis who set out after the leaders leaving the rest to play.
Talking of Leaders, there were three out tonight, Nev & Mike had got away from the other two but Tracey & Amy were really close to Sally & Bob right until the end of the race, when Sally managed to nip past Tracey virtually on the line. Initially Craig (Comet ET) was also part of this battle but fell back slightly on the third lap.
At the end of the second lap the first four were the same but Nev & Mike had moved up to 5th and Curtis up to 6th, but the prime mover was Dave I (Laser) who had stormed through to 10th from 18th place on the first lap. Chris S (Laser) and Nick J (Laser continued to have their own battle at the back of the fleet.
Monica decided to leave it to the boys, so at the end of the third lap the three leaders were holding position but the next three boats had shuffled up a place courtesy of Monica. Dave I had moved up another two places to 8th but behind him it was in the lap of the gods as to who was in front of who !
The fourth and last lap saw Dave L nip past Julian to take 2nd place on the water with Curtis coming in 4th . In the middle of the fleet pack, Mike A just pipped Mike C right on the line but then boarded the Committee Boat, fortunately for him he had officially finished at this point!
The final places on the water were 1st David C, 2nd David L, 3rd Julian, 4th Curtis. However on handicap it looks like Julian 2nd with Mike & Nev 3rd pushing Dave L to 4th and Chris A pushing Curtis down to 6th.