Gillette Series 5 – 16th May 2018

There was quite a brisk wind tonight going up to about 15 mph and coming from the NNE most of the time, but veering around N as usual. Ellen was on duty for the second Wednesday in a row.

There were 13 starters and 12 finishers, but not all on the same lap.
At the end of the first lap the leading 10 boats were all still fairly close together with Mark (Laser) in the lead followed by Newton (Solo) and Nick & Dean (Vago). Curtis (Radial) came through in 4th place just ahead of the Lasers of Richard H, Ralph and Rick and the Supernova of Paul H. Jeremy (Laser) was about 20 seconds behind them with Sally & Stuart (Leader) another 20 seconds further back. Then along came the Oppies of Jemima and Ed with Ron (Mirror) close behind them.

On the second lap there was quite a bit of manoeuvring going on. Mark was still leading by a minute from Nick & Dean who had moved up to 2nd and Ralph had gained three places to move up to 3rd with Richard H moving up to 4th. Paul H had passed Rick, and Sally & Stuart has passed Jeremy and further back Ron had caught and passed Ed.

By the end of the third lap Newton had regained 3rd place and Ralph had retired, not sure if he took to the water or something broke. Richard H and Curtis were still 4th and 5th respectively. Paul H gained another place to move up to 6th with Sally & Stuart repassing Jeremy to move up to 7th. Ron had moved up three places to 9th passing Rick, and the Oppie of Jemima.

There was no change in the positions of the three leaders on the fourth lap, but Curtis passed Richard H to move up to 4th. Paul H, Sally & Stuart, and Jeremy remained 6th, 7th and 8th with Rick repassing Ron to move to 9th. Ed had caught and passed Jemima and they both received the finish gun at the end of the lap.

The only change on the fifth lap was Jeremy repassing Stuart & Sally to move up one place to 7th.
Paul H, Jeremy, Sally & Stuart, Rick and Ron all received the gun at the end of this lap.

At the finish gun Mark crossed the line well ahead of Nick & Dean with Curtis moving up to 3rd by passing Newton and Richard H.

The final positions on the water were –
1st Mark; 2nd Nick & Dean; 3rd Curtis; 4th Newton; 5th Richard H; 6th Paul H

On handicap there will be quite a change with Ed taking 1st place and Jemima 2nd. Mark will drop to 3rd, Curtis 4th, Newton 5th and Nick & Dean 6th.

Thanks to Ellen and the OOD Team of Ann D, Carol M, Cliff P, Martin W and Simon B.