27 August Gillette Series Race 19

There was a SE wind varying between 6 – 10 mph, depending upon which part of the lake you were on. Steve B and team used a Tektona start going down to a blue buoy, roughly where No 1 used to be.  Not sure where 1 was !
21 boats started and it was quite busy round the first mark and Dave L added to the fun by capsizing just in front of the mark.
Steve P (505) got away well and was leading at the end of the first lap from Newton (Laser), Ian C (Supernova), Curtis (Laser), then there was a slight gap to Dave L, Dave I, Andy B and Dave P, all in Lasers. Paula & Angela (Comet Duo) were next across the line in 9th place, closely pursued by Nev & Bob (Leader) then Julian and Chris A in Solos and Sally & Laura in the other Leader. Paul H was very close to the girls (who can blame him !) and behind Paul were the T ladies, Tracey (Comet) just ahead of Amy (Europe). A little further back were Dean & Nick (Laser 2) followed by Chris M (420), Grace J (Topper) and Alistair S (Radial).
At the end of the second lap, there was no change in the positions of the first eight boats, which is quite unusual. Julian had moved up two places to 9th, Nev & Bob were still in 10th, Chris A moved up one place to 11th and Mike A three places to 12th. Tracey was still leading Amy, but they had both moved up one place.
After three laps Steve P was still ahead, but Ian had passed Newton to move up to 2nd and Dave P and Julian had passed Andy B to move to 7th and 8th. Tracey had moved up one place, putting Sally & Laura between her and Amy. Grace did well to complete three laps and finished on that lap along with another 10 boats.
The fourth and final lap saw no change in the positions of the first nine boats, which must be a first for this year in any series.
The final positions on the water were 1st Steve P, 2nd, Ian C, 3rd Newton, but on handicap it is likely that the three boats behind Steve will place before him, giving Curtis 3rd and Steve 4th.