2nd November Cobley 9
With a SW wind between 10 and 14 mph, Rod B set a first beat down to No 4 across to 9 and then back down to 3, 2, 5, 8 and finally 7.
There were 18 starters and first away were the 4.7 of Hadey and the two Bytes of Hugh and Peter S, followed 2 minutes later by Mike A (Lightning) then the deadly duo of Dave P & I (Wayfarer). Then 2 minutes after the Daves; Sylvia and Paul D in Radials and Newton & Roz in the Laser 2000 sallied forth to be followed after a further 2 minutes by the Laser pack, Jon & David C, Richard S, Ken P, Dave L, Richard B and Alistair S. This cleared the start line for the remaining three boats, Ian C (Supernova), Paul R (Aero) and Adrian in his Vago, to set out in pursuit of the fleet.
First back through the start line at the end of one lap was Hadey followed by the other early starters, Hugh, Peter and Mike, then Dave P & I and Newton & Roz. The first Lasers came next with Jon C leading from David C and Richard S. At the back of the fleet, Richard B was battling with Alistair S and Paul D.
By the end of the second lap, Newton & Roz were leading with Jon C 2nd and David 3rd. Ken had moved up 3 places to 7th, Paul R moved up four places to 10th, but the highest mover was Ian C going from 11th to 4th.
A lap later and Ian had taken the lead with Jon and David still lying 2nd and 3rd, Newton & Roz had slipped down to 4th with Paul R moving up five places to 5th and Richard S up three places to 6th, Further down the fleet Peter had managed to get away from Hadey and Hugh, but these two were still battling and talking away !
At the final gun the first two were still in place but Paul came through to take 3rd from David and everyone else maintained station. Even with the varying wind conditions there were no retirements and few capsizes, despite the forecast of strong winds.
Final positions were 1st Ian, 2nd Jon, and 3rd Paul.