Gillette Series 13 – 10th July 2019

It was another lovely Wednesday evening with a light wind 7-10 mph from the SW. Rick decided to keep the course to himself in case he wants to use it again, but it must have been fairly short as they got four laps in!

At the end of the first lap Karen crossed the line just ahead of Ellen, both in Lasers. It was 90 seconds before Mark (Laser) crossed in 3^rd place nor far ahead of Newton and Steve in Solos. John H (Laser) and Curtis (Laser) crossed together just in front of Dave & Ann (Leader) with Nigel and Hugh in two more Lasers on their transom.  About 20 seconds later along came Jeremy (Laser), Chris H (Comet), Sally & Stuart (Leader) and Paul H (Laser) battling for 11^th spot and they were about 20 seconds ahead of Chris & Carol in their Sport 14. It was another minute before Dean & Nick (Vago) hove into view and they were about 30 seconds ahead of Alicia (Radial), Rhys (4.7) and Ron in his Mirror. Then there was quite a gap back to Jemima in her Oppie who was having a good battle with Katie in her Topper and bringing up the rear was Rich in his Wanderer.

On the second lap, no change in the first four, but Curtis had moved up two places to 5^th and Hugh was up four places to 6^th (family fireworks coming up!). Nigel had passed Dave & Ann to move up to 8^th and Dean & Nick had passed Chris & Carol to gain a place and Rich retired on this lap.

Again, no change in the first four on the third lap, but Hugh had passed Curtis to take 5^th place and John H moved up four places to 7^th. Further back Paul H gained a place by passing Sally & Stuart and Katie had passed Jemima. Rhys, Ron, Katie and Jemima all received the finish gun at the end of the lap.

Still no change in the positions of the first four on this last lap, but guess what Curtis had repassed Hugh!  Nigel and Dave & Ann crossed the line together for an equal 8^th spot and Dean & Nick made up one more place, passing Sally & Stuart. The final order on the water was –

1^st Karen; 2^nd Ellen; 3^rd Mark; 4^th Newton; 5^th Curtis; 6^th Hugh

On corrected time this will become –

1^st Jemima; 2^nd Karen; 3^rd Ellen; 4^th Newton; 5^th Mark; 6^th Chris H

Thanks to Rick and the OOD Team, but unfortunately none of their names was entered on the race sheet. (OODs make sure you get your names on the sheet or you might be allocated another duty – not that is any great hardship on a nice sunny evening!)

I think the rota had Ann, Bob L, Cecilia and Caroline G – so thank you if you turned out.