Cobley Series
Cobley Series 1 & 2 3rd and 10th September
Pursuit Races
The first two races in this series produced two entirely different leader boards with the 3rd September race showing the first three as Richard S, Chris H and Hadey and the 10th September showing the first three as Newton, Jon and Karen, so it promises to be a keenly contested series.
Handicap Races
Again the two leader boards for races 1 and 2 were different with 3rd September showing Chris H, Ralph and Richards S and the 10th Newton, Jon and Karen.
One interesting point was that on the 10th September the first three were the same for both the Pursuit and Handicap Races, something which does not happen very often.
Cobley Series 3 24th September
It was a nice sunny morning with a SE wind of about 8 mph, but this increased slightly for the second race and changed direction throughout both races! Richard S was SOOD and used a Tektona start with the first leg down to 1, then 3, 9, 6, 5 and back through the start.
Pursuit Race
There were 21 starters with Bea first away in her Oppie followed some time later by Ron (Mirror) then Rhys in his Topper. With such a light wind there was only a lap and a half before the finish horn sounded and the positions at the gun (horn) were –
1st Chris H–Comet; 2nd Ralph-Laser; 3rd Ron-Mirror; 4th Bea-Oppie; 5th Newton-Solo; 6th James-Laser
Handicap Race
In the light wind most of the fleet was closely bunched and on the first lap about nine boats approached No 6 line abreast. Alistair (Laser) was in pole position on the inside and should have had water rights, but trying to get that many boats to yield water proved impossible and inevitably resulted in a raft! Probably half the fleet with the notable exception of Alistair should have done penalty turns, but in the event there seemed to be an unspoken agreement that it was a “racing incident” and everyone sailed on!
At the end of the first lap Karen (Laser) was first back through the line closely followed by the Lasers of Ralph and Mark with Jess (Radial) 4th, Newton (Solo) 5th and Sally & Stuart (Leader) 6th. Less than 30 seconds covered the next eight boats who were led by James (Laser), then Adrian (Vago s/h), Chris H (Comet), Dave & Ann (Leader), Mike C (Wanderer), Rick (Laser), Hadey (Radial) and Julian W (Solo). Further back were Mike A (Lightning), Ron (Mirror) and the unfortunate Alistair, who must have lost well over a minute by being forced to re-round No 6. Dean (Vago s/h) and Rhys retired on this lap.
There were only two laps and Karen retained her lead crossing the line well ahead of Mark, who had moved up to 2nd with James who had gained four places coming through in 3rd. The other movers on the last lap were Hadey up seven places to 6th, Dave & Ann up two places to 8th, Julian and Mike A both up five places to 9th and 10th respectively, Rick up one to 11th, Alistair up four places to 13th and Laser 155920 (did not sign on) up one place to 17th.
Bea did not complete the second lap, but not sure if she received the gun one lap early or whether she retired.
The final positions on the water were –
1st Karen; 2nd Mark; 3rd James; 4th Ralph; 5th Newton; 6th Hadey
On handicap there should be some surprising changes particularly in the case of Ron who finished last on the water, but should take 1st place!
Newton should move up to 2nd, Mike A up to 3rd, Chris H 4th, Hadey 5th and Dave & Ann 6th.
Thanks to Richard S and the OOD Team of Tracey T and Gareth D.
