7th September Cobley Pursuit Race 2
7th September 2014 Cobley Pursuit Series Race 2
With a light North wind, which was veering considerably, Jon M set a first leg down to 5, across to 9 then down to 3 and back up the lake.
Another good turn out with 23 boats led off by William P in his Topper followed by John C in the Topaz and then Hugh in a Byte.
At the end of the first lap John C had passed William but he was still in 2nd place. Monica had passed Hugh to take 3rd, Mike A (Lightning) and Chris A (Solo) were next but the Laser pack was making ground with Karen moving up to 7th, closely followed by David C, Curtis, Dave L and Andy Burr. The next boat along was the RS Feva of the Page family, the first Feva to sail in any series so far this year. They were followed by the three Lasers of James P, Dave I and John W, who were being chased by Adrian in his Vago who had caught and passed Phil A in another Laser. Then there were the three Radials, Sylvia, Jess and Paul who were being caught by the last boat to start, the 505 of Steve P, who had already passed Eddie and Chris M in Lasers who had started out 11 minutes ahead of Steve.
Monica led at the end of the second lap and was being chased by David C who had managed to break clear of the other Lasers. Mike A was now 3rd, but the Lasers of Dave L, Karen and Curtis were breathing down his neck. Hugh had slipped down to 7th with John C 8th and Chris A 9th. Steve P was flying and had moved up from 20th place to 12th place.
As many of the boats approached No 6 on the last lap with the race end in sight there was a complete change of fortune as the wind dropped away completely for a while and then came up again in a slightly different direction. This scuppered Monica’s chances and she retired just before the end gun. Some other boats lost out badly and other gained ground (or should that be water !)
At the finish gun David C was in the lead with Steve P 2nd and Dave I who was in the right place at the right time snatched 3rd from the rest of the Lasers.