Gillette 12 – 4th July

Gillette 12 – 4th July 2018

Another warm sunny evening with a SSW wind of about 6 – 8 mph and Curtis set the first beat to 4 then 9, 5, 8, 6, 7 and back through the start.

There were 18 starters and at the end of the first lap a stream of 11 Lasers came through, evenly spaced and fairly close together in the order Karen, Ralph, William, Mark, Alistair S, Mike Tr, Rick, Richard H, Hugh, Jeremy and Paul H. Then at last another boat, well nearly, it was Hadey in her Radial followed by yet another Laser in the form of Mike T (at least his sail is a different colour. Mike A (Lightning) was through in 14th closely followed by Sally & Stuart (Leader), Ron (Mirror), Dave I (Laser – come on Dave what are you doing down here with the variety acts!) and finally Nick on his own in the Vago (this may have been his first solo race without the handicap of Dean).

At the end of the second lap Karen had increased her lead and William had moved up to 2nd (this may also be a first as Will had abandoned his radial rig in favour of the full rig). There was no other change in position until you get down to Mike T in his multi coloured Laser who had gained a place to move up to 12th. Towards the rear of the fleet Ron and Dave I both gained a place by passing Sally & Stuart.

On the third lap the three leading boats maintained station, but Mike Tr passed Mark and Alistair to move up two places to 4th. Hugh passed Richard H to 7th and Hadey gained two places to move up to 9th. Rick had a disastrous lap dropping from 7th to 11th finishing up just ahead of Mike A and Paul H who had both gained a place. At the back of the fleet Nick had passed on the lantern rouge to Sally & Stuart, who finished at the end of this lap and effectively passed it back to Nick.

The fourth and last lap saw no change in the two leaders but Mike Tr had gained another place to take 3rd spot from Ralph. Hugh moved up to 6th by passing Alistair, who had a Lindsley lap dropping to 11th place. Hadey, Jeremy and Mike A all gained two places to finish 7th, 8th and 10th respectively and Ron gained a place getting past Mike T.

The final positions on the water were –
1st Karen; 2nd William; 3rd Mike Tr; 4th Ralph; 5th Mark; 6th Hugh

On handicap Ron comes zooming up to take 1st place with everyone shuffling down one place.

Well done to William in his full rig and to Nick, who now he has coped single handed with the multiple control lines of the Vago is considering whether crocheting might be the next move.

Thanks to Curtis and the OOD Team of Gill G, Phil M and Julian W (Nice to see you back Julian and hope you continue to recover from your nasty accident)