Cobley Series 3 – 26th September 2021

It was a pleasant sunny morning with a SSWish wind of 10 mph. Richard S set a first beat down to 4, then 3, 9, 5, 6,7 and back through the start.

 Pursuit Race

There were 13 starters and remarkably there were only two Lasers out today, so the dominant class was the Comet with Aileen, Chris H and Sally all sailing. At the end of the first lap Chris H was still leading with Newton & Sam (RS200) through to 2^nd place followed by the Solos of Mike C and Roland. Darren was up to 5^th in his Laser and Dave & Ann (just back from flotilla sailing around the Greek islands) were 6^th. At the gun Newton & Sam had the lead but Chris H and Mike C were still 2^nd and 3^rd. Darren and Dave & Ann had passed Roland to take 4^th and 5^th places. Alex & Mike T (470) and Nigel (Laser) had gained three places from the first lap, passing Rick & Lottie (RS200) and Sally and Aileen in their Comets. Paul W (Morbic) and Chris (Mirror) were sailing serenely on at the back of the fleet.

Handicap Race

Thomas and Jasmine in a Feva and Lucy in a 4.7 joined the second race to bring the fleet up to 15.

Darren was first back across the line and stayed there for all three laps of the race. Roland came through about 30 seconds later closely followed by Nigel, Newton & Sam and Alex & Mike T. Another 30 seconds and Dave & Ann crossed the line ahead of Mike C. Then along came the Comets line astern with Chris H ahead of Sally and Aileen. Thomas & Jasmine brought the Feva through in 11^th place, a minute in front of Rick & Lottie, who in turn were comfortably ahead of Lucy in her 4.7 (well as comfortable as you can be in a RS200 in a light wind!). Paul W and Christine brought up the rear of the fleet.

On the second lap Newton & Sam moved up to 2^nd place and Alessandro & Mike T up to 3^rd. Nigel crossed the line just two seconds ahead of Roland in the battle for 4^th. Further back Aileen and Sally continued their battle in the Comets with Aillen just 10 seconds ahead of Sally. There were no other changes in position and Lucy, Paul W and Christine received the gun at the end of this lap.

At the end of the last lap the first two maintained their positions, but Nigel pipped Alessandro & Mike T to take 3^rd place by just two seconds. There was another close finish behind them with Dave & Ann getting past Roland to take 5^th place, but no further changes further back.

The order on the water was – 1^st Darren; 2^nd Newton & Sam; 3^rd Nigel; 4^th Alessandro & Mike T; 5^th Dave & Ann; 6^th Roland.

On corrected time this changes to 1^st Darren; 2^nd Dave & Ann; 3^rd Roland; 4^th Chris H; 5^th Newton & Sam; 6^th Nigel.

Thanks to SOOD Richard S and the small race team of Issy and Gareth E.