Spring Series 10 – 13th June 2021
A hot and sunny morning, but the wind was SSE veering all over the place and ranging from 5 mph to occasionally 10 mph!
The start was delayed somewhat because the start line outer pin was immovable! Sam and Tom A (both strapping lads manning the safety boat) wrestled with it for some time and tried dragging it clear using the power of the outboard, but had to abandon the attempt and fetch another buoy from the boat shed to use as a start line pin.
Mike A eventually set a course of 9, B (just SW of 8) then A (towards 6) and back through the start line (near 5).
Pursuit Race
There were 14 starters and most of them managed just over a lap before the 35 minute gun went signaling the end of the race.
Ron (Mirror) was first away and led for most of the race, but was caught and passed by Chris H (Comet) and Emily (4.7) just before the gun. Aileen in the second Comet just pipped Dave & Ann (Leader) for 4th place and the first of the faster boats was the RS200 of Newton & Sam in 6th place, despite having an argument with the safety boat at the end of the lap and having to do turns!
Richard S was the first of the Lasers, but he did have a head start with a Radial rig and stayed in front of Mike T, Chris K, Jess, Karen (another Radial), Mark and Jamie, not a good wind for Lasers!
Handicap Race
Mark and Jamie could not stand any more excitement and opted to sit the second race out and the course was shortened with Buoy D being positioned short of 9 as the first mark. With the wind threatening to disappear and the sun still burning down, Mike A decided a one lap “sprint race” would suffice!
This time, as all the boats started at the same time and in the same wind, the Lasers fared slightly better.
The order at the end of the only lap was -1st Mike T, 2nd Newton & Sam; 3rd Richard S; 4th Aileen (Comet); 5th Chris K and 6th Chris H (Comet). Karen was 7th in another Radial just ahead of Dave & Ann (Leader) then Emily(4.7), Jess (Laser) and Ron (Mirror).
On corrected time the result becomes – 1st Mike T; 2nd Richard S; 3rd Aileen; 4th Newton & Sam; 5th Ron; 6th Chris H.
Thanks to SOOD Mike A and the race team of Sally (again), Sam & Tom W and Tom A.
As a footnote Sam and Tom were not the only ones who could not shift the start line pin.
Following the morning races, Paul R was trying to set a course for the Junior Regatta and he could not shift it (and he has moved more marks than the Deutsche Bank)!
I believe that on Monday, Brian M discovered the anchor weight had become entangled with a large sunken log and he managed to retrieve both log and anchor weight. Not sure how he managed that, but well done Brian.