Twilight Race – 11th September 2019
This should have been the evening when everyone decorated their boats with lights and sailed serenely around the lake providing a spectacular finale to the evening races. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and with a 16 mph SW it was deemed unsafe to be sailing around in the dark, so the obligation for lights was waived and the race shortened to allow everyone to get home in the light. Curtis set the first beat to 4 then A, 9, 5, 8, 6, 7 and back through the start.
There were 13 starters, although Paul W was still on the bank when the gun went. He then decided to launch quickly and gave a demonstration of how to rig a Laser on the water with a little bit of help from James and Doug in the Safety boat!
Meanwhile Simon B was steaming away in his Blaze and crossed the line about a minute ahead of Newton & Ellen (RS 200) with Steve S (Solo) another 30 seconds back. Karen (Radial) came through in 4th place not far ahead of Dean & Nick, who were having fun flying their spinnaker in the Vago. Hadey (4.7) crossed in 6th place just in front of Rick and Milo in Radials with Will (4.7) just 10 seconds behind them. He was followed by Ron (Mirror) and Alicia (Radial). Missing from this list was John H (Laser) who rounded No 7 in about 5th place but proceeded to tack and sail right up to the buoy line without going through the start line! Paul W had got going and was happily pottering around the course marks, but not necessarily in the right order!
On the second lap Simon and Newton & Ellen were well away at the front and Karen had passed Steve to move up to 3rd place. Dean & Nick were still flying around in 5th, but Milo had passed both Hadey and Rick to move up to 6th.Will had gained a place by also passing Hadey and Alicia had got past Ron. John H was still going well and was actually 4th across the line.
On the last lap the only change in position was Rick repassing Will to move back to seventh heaven!
Simon crossed the finish line about 3 minutes ahead of Newton & Ellen and they were about the same distance ahead of Karen. The final positions on the water were-
1st Simon; 2nd Newton & Ellen; 3rd Karen ;4th Steve; 5th Dean & Nick; 6th Milo
As a point of interest John H was 4th across the line and received a consolatory toot from Mike A on the hooter as did Paul W who actually had bothered to deck his Radial with lights earning the accolade of best lit boat on the night!
On corrected time the first four boats keep their positions, but Ron takes 5th place with Milo retaining 6th spot. Simon can thank his lucky stars that the original Twilight Race Trophy (which was a horrendous plastic candelabra) has disappeared.
Thanks to Curtis and the OOD Team of Doug H, Emily S, James C, Phoebe S, Richard H, Sam S, Sophie F-P.
Thanks also to Sally for preparing salad and all the other bits and to Hugh with the help of Stuart for manning the Barbecue.
Well although we did not get the light fantastic, it was a good race to end the evening season and we did have a lovely sunset.