Gillette Series 3 27th April
Another brisk wind tonight with a 12 -15 mph WNW straight across the lake and another Island start. David C set a course of Xp, 2s, 4p, 3p, 1p. with X layed halfway between the 4 and 5, near the buoy line.
Ian (Supernova) was first to the first mark then followed by Ellen (Radial), Karen (Laser), Hugh (Laser), and Newton (Solo) in quick succession. Hugh got in a bit of a mess having to give way to Karen and had to have two attempts at rounding and dropped back. At the end of the lap Ian crossed the line in 1st place followed by Karen, Ellen, Newton and Hugh. John H (Laser) came through in 6th closely followed by Sally & Stuart (Leader) and then Richard (Radial) and Julian W crossed the line together. Slightly further back Paul H (Supernova) was having a good battle with Franz (Contender). Then there was a gap back to Dean & Nick (Vago) followed by Chris & Carol (Sport 14) and then another gap back to Rick (Radial). The two Toppers of Ben and Joe were having a close scrap at the back of the fleet.
The positions at the end of the second lap had not changed much, but John H, Julian, Paul H and Rick had all gained a place and Joe had got past Ben in the Topper battle.
By the third lap the wind had increased and Julian capsized in his Solo and retired. At the end of this lap the first six boats crossed the line in the same order. Richard had gained two places to move up to 7th and Franz had made up three places to 8th. The Topper battle was really close and Joe crossed the line just 3 seconds ahead of Ben and they both received the finish gun.
On the fourth lap in increasing winds John H broke his toe strap, with a consequent capsize and he retired along with Hugh. In these stronger winds the faster boats of Ian and Karen pulled away on the off wind legs, until Ian missed out Buoy 2 (he must have been sailing Sunday’s course !) and he had to go back and that gave Karen a useful lead. At the end of this fourth lap Karen led with Ian now 2nd, Ellen 3rd and Newton 4th.Paul H had moved up four places to 5th and Franz up two places to 6th. Richard was still 7th with Sally & Stuart 8th and Dean & Nick were up two places to 9th with Rick up three places to 10th and Chris & Carol up three places to 11th.
Sally & Stuart, Dean & Nick, Rick and Chris 7 Carol received the finish gun.
It was now looking good for Karen as she rounded the last mark and approached the finish line, until she capsized 10 metres out and could not get it up again in the very cold waters. Ian crossed the line in 1st place with Ellen 2nd and Newton 3rd, Richard was 4th, Franz 5th and unlucky Karen just managed to cross the line in 6th ahead of Paul H.
On handicap Ellen claimed her second win in two races with Newton 2nd, Ian 3rd, Richard 4th, Sally & Stuart 5th and Karen 6th.
Thanks to David C and the OOD Team Jon, Bob L, Jan M, John M and Nick.