Summer Series 9 – 28th July 2019
It was a bit frisky this morning, blowing 13-16 mph from the SSW with stronger gusts coming through and sudden shifts in direction. Peter R used a clubhouse bank start with the outer pin near 8 and the first mark was A (just South of 6 on the buoy line), then 1, 3, 4, 8 and back through the start.
Pursuit Race
.As a result of the uncertain conditions there were a number of dropouts, but there were still 16 starters.
At the end of the first lap the early starting Mirrors of Ron, Jewels and Christopher, Pippa & Charlie and the 4.7 of Rhys were still ahead with the two 1161s next in line; Dave & Ann leading Newton & Ellen. On the second lap, Mike A became the first casualty when he capsized on the way down to No 1 and unshipped his rudder. At the gun the order was –
1st Newton & Ellen -RS200; 2nd Jon-Laser; 3rd Dave & Mike N-Leader; 4th Karen-Laser; 5th Richard S-Laser; 6th Christopher, Pippa and Charlie-Mirror.
Actually, at the gun, Ron was still leading Jewels, but apparently, he had decided to sail a shorter course and led Jewels and Rhys astray, so all three voluntarily retired leaving Christopher K as the only survivor of the early starters!
Between the races Mike A gave the Rescue Boats something to do by capsizing again and then Ken decided to follow suit.
Handicap Race
Christopher K and Ken opted out of the second race and Ellen & Newton retired on the first lap (not sure of reason). Dave L & Mike N (Leader) collided with Mike A (Radial – not his day!) just after the start and had to do turns. Mike A is giving Dave a red ribbon to tie on his left hand for future events. There was quite a crowd round the first mark, but Paul & Lottie (RS200 – the other one) got away and were first back across the line. They were followed by the Laser convoy of Mark, James, Richard S, Jon, Karen and Rick. Then along came Bulldozer Bill and his mate in the Leader closely followed by the Laser of Alistair S. Next across the line was Jewels (Mirror) about 30 seconds ahead of Mike A, who had Rhys (4.7) and Ron (Mirror) not far behind him.
On the second lap Paul & Lottie increased their lead on Mark at the front of the fleet and Jon moved up two places to 3rd. Further back Dave & Mike moved up one place by passing Rick and Mike A got past Jewels, who received the gun at the end of the lap along with Rhys and Ron.
The first three finished in the same order, but Richard S managed to pip James for 4th place. The only other change in order was Mike A gaining a place on Alistair as a result of Alistair capsizing first after rounding 1 and again when approaching 3. The second capsize was caused by a terrific squall which came through and caught Alistair at just the wrong moment!
The order on the water was -1st Paul & Lottie; 2nd Mark; 3rd Jon; 4th Richard S; 5th James; 6th Karen.
On corrected time the order becomes – 1st Jewels; 2nd Mark; 3rd Jon; 4th Ron, Equal 5th Paul & Lottie and Richard S.
Congratulations to Jewels on her victory and thanks to Peter R and the OOD Team of Ann L, Brian M, Dean, Maggie B, Patrick C, Robbie H and Sally.
As an aside to this event, in a previous report I referred to “swinging a seal” as being more nautical than “swinging a cat”, which is absolute rowlocks.
Swinging a cat refers of course to swinging a cat’o’nine tails, which was a whip used to administer flogging on HMS ships of war in the 1800s. So, it could be said that a “cat” is more nautical than a seal, which is more marine? In fact, sailors do actually like a pussy, and this is probably where the term “matelots” comes from! Most warships of the period did carry a cat to catch the rats, but that is another story.
Keep taking the tablets!