9th November Cup Race
It was a beautiful sunny morning for Remembrance Sunday and the November Cup Race.
With a very light SSW wind, Steve S made a last minute change to the first beat by putting X in place just past Tektona instead of the original No 3 buoy, in case no-one actually reached No 3 ! In fact a nice breeze sprang up shortly after the start and made for a very pleasant sail. There was a two minute silence before the start in remembrance of all those who served their country in past and current conflicts.
There were 15 starters and the fastest away from the line were David C and Karen in Lasers, Newton & Ellen in the Laser 2000 and Adrian in his Laser 8.1. Well actually Jon C (Laser) was the quickest away but he was adjudged to be across the line and had to go back round again! Mike A (Lightning) did the same thing, but went back round just before the gun, as he arrived at the line too early.
At the end of the first lap, Steve P (505) led, followed by David C then Newton & Ellen and Karen. Peter R (Enterprise) had come up to 5th despite having to do penalty turns after a slow motion bump with Mike. Adrian was 6th with John W (Laser) 7th, Mike 8th, Curtis (Laser) 9th and Jon C up to 10th. Eddie B (Laser) in 11th place had pulled out a lead on Paul W (Radial), Sally (Comet) and Hadey (4.7), with Pat G (Mirror) slightly further back.
By the second lap the first five boats were in the same positions but very close together. At this point Peter R in the Enterprise was probably leading on handicap. There was a slight gap back to Adrian and John W in 6th and 7th , but again these two were very close to one another. Curtis had passed Mike to move up one place to 8th but Jon and Eddie had retired, which moved Paul W up to 10th closely followed by Sally and Hadey. These three were having a great battle at the back of the fleet.
Pat had now decided to retire and at the end of the third and last lap David C had just taken the lead from Steve P, but Steve was still in 2nd place. Karen had moved up to 3rd and Adrian up to 4th with Peter still in 5th place.
The final positions on the water were 1st David C, 2nd Steve P, 3rd Karen; but on handicap Newton & Ellen were close enough to snatch victory with David C dropping down to 2nd with Karen retaining 3rd place.