Gillette Series 16 – 31st July 2019

The wind tonight was slightly higher than forecast about 16 mph with gusts of 20 coming from the West, but less shifty than on last Sunday, Steve S set the first mark as A (about level with Tektona, but out near the buoy line).

With the fairly strong wind the fleet became evenly spaced out and there was very little overtaking over the four laps of the race.

Karen (Laser) was first back across the line followed 15 seconds later by Mark in another Laser and he was 20 seconds ahead of Rick (Laser) in 3^rd place. Alistair (Laser) came through in 4^th place followed by Dave & Ann (Leader), who were just ahead of Paul H in his Supernova. These six maintained their positions for all four laps. Chris H (Comet) was 7^th and Ron (Mirror) 8^th on the first lap, but Jeremy (Laser) overtook both of them on the second lap to move up to 7^th and these positions were unchanged for the rest of the race. Mike A (Lightning) did briefly get past Ron but then touched a mark and Ron repassed him when Mike was doing his penalty turns. At the back of the fleet Chris & Carol (Sport 14) led Mike T (Radial) and Lottie (4.7) and again these positions were unchanged throughout the race and these three boats were finished one lap early.

The order on the water was – 1^st Karen; 2^nd Mark; 3^rd Rick; 4^th Alistair; 5^th Dave & Ann; 6^th Paul H

On corrected time, the first two keep their positions, but Ron moves up to 3rd place with Dave & Ann up to 4^th, with Rick 5^th and Alistair 6^th.

Thanks to Steve S and the OOD Team of Ben , Bob H, Chris M, Cliff P, Dean and Simon (good to see you again Simon – where’s that yellow Laser?)