Cobley Series 8 29th October
The wind was 12 mph NNW veering N and quite strong in the gusts, but not as strong as last week. Dave L set the start from shore with the pin end towards 8 and first mark X up by the buoy line a bit down from 6, then 4, 2, 5, 8 and back through the start. . All the Lasers went for full rigs, except William and Milo who normally sail Radials anyway
Pursuit Race
There were 13 starters with Dave P first away in his Mirror followed by Rhys (Topper) and then Chris H (Comet). Julian W who had got away well in his Solo suffered a failure with his main sheet block and had to retire. Ellen who was out for the first in a while time in her Laser capsized a few times as she got to grips with jibing the full rig in the gusts. She then decided to retire and regroup for the second race. In the fresh wind the early leaders had been caught by the time the gun went and the final positions were –
1st Mark – Laser; 2nd Jon – Laser; 3rd James – Laser; 4th Newton – Solo; 5th Franz – Laser; 6th Chris H – Comet
Handicap Race
Milo (Radial) joined the fleet for the second race.
James made a good start and led at the first mark from Newton with Jon and Ellen not far behind. James, Jon and Ellen had passed Newton by the end of the first lap with Alistair S and Mark B in Lasers not far behind. Then there was a slight gap back to Franz who was easing away from Chris H, William and Milo. Then along came Adrian sailing his Vago single handed with spinnaker as usual and further back were Dave P and Rhys.
On the second lap the three leaders were having a good battle with Newton following a short distance behind. Mark B moved up a place to 5th by getting past Alistair. William. Milo and Adrian all gained two places moving up to 7th, 8th and 9th
By the end of the third lap Ellen had taken the lead and pulled a small gap on the others and Franz was the only other mover by regaining two places. Dave P and Rhys received the finish gun at the end of this lap.
At the gun Ellen had increased her lead and crossed the line well ahead, but there were no other changes in position on this last lap.
The final positions on the water were –
1st Ellen; 2nd Jon; 3rd James; 4th Newton; 5th Mark; 6th Alistair.
On handicap Ellen will retain her victory, but Newton was close enough to Jon and James to pip them making it a daughter, father one two! The only other change will be William pushing Alistair out of 6th place.
Thanks to Dave L and the OOD Team of Pat G, Nick J, Gordon P and Ian S.