Cobley Series 10 – 21st November 2021

A very cold, sunny day, with a northerly wind of 12 mph and gusting lots more at times. SOODs Karen and Aileen (who was being trained) set a course starting from Tectona to 5p, Ap (half way back to 4), 9s, 1s, Bs (half way to 2). 

The pursuit race saw 24 boats starting, including four boats from one family – that has to be a record?! Well done Dan, Rebecca, William and Frances. 

First off was Ron in his Mirror. Dan and Rebecca in Picos, William and Frances in Toppers and Jewels in her Mirror should have also been starting early but were all late to the start line and started randomly as they arrived! Paul was somewhere in the Mobic, Chris in his Comet, the Solos of Mike and Roland, then the Leader with Dave and Ann onboard all got going before the mass Laser start along with the RS200 of Newton and Sam. Last, but not least, to finally start at 10.5 minutes was James C in his RS300 which fairly flew round the course. Martin in his Laser capsized very early on and retired before completing a lap, and Hattie in her Laser capsized lots but persisted until the end of the race.

The end of the first lap saw Ron still out front, followed by Paul in the Mobic, Chris in the Comet and William in his Topper, with Dave and Ann in fifth place The second lap saw Ron, Chris then the first Laser with Darren onboard beginning to come through, followed by James in his Laser. Dave & Ann were still hanging in there still in fifth. Some lapping was also beginning to happen now, making it all very complicated and confusing for Karen, Aileen and Bea on Tectona!

The end of the third lap and Ron was still there, but now followed by Darren, Chris K and James in Lasers with Chris in the Comet down to fifth.

The end of the race saw boats on different laps all intermingled, but fortunately everyone was on a downwind leg, making Aileen, Hadey and Alex’s job confusing but doable in the finish boat.

Podium places all went to Lasers – Darren, Chris K and James P (who was incredibly lucky to finish in front of James C in the RS300 who was right on his heels). Chris H was 5^th and Jon in another Laser was 6^th.

It was very cold so Mike C, and Frances decided enough was enough and went ashore to the warmth of the clubhouse leaving 21 boats to start the handicap race. 

30 seconds to go saw Newton and Sam in the RS200 and Jon in his Laser over the line but amazingly they managed to find space to duck back before the gun went! Darren wasn’t quite so lucky, a couple of seconds too early right at the ODM meant he had nowhere to go other than across the line prematurely prompting an individual recall from Tectona (Thanks Darren – it meant Aileen in training as a SOOD learned what to do when someone is over the line at the start – sound one hoot after the start hoot and fly the white flag with the blue cross. Leave the flag flying until the early starter has restarted correctly and then take it down).

First round at the end of the lap was James in the RS300 flying machine, followed by Chris K in a Laser, then Newton and Sam in the RS200, lots more Lasers -Ralph, James, Jon, Darren, Gareth. Dave and Ann in the Leader, Chris in the Comet and Richard in a Laser were all together and Roland in a Solo and Alistair and Nigel in yet more Lasers weren’t far behind. Jewels in her Mirror was already a minute ahead of Ron in his and they were followed by Hattie in the final Laser, Paul in the Mobic and Rebecca in a Pico, William in a Topper and Dan in a Pico.

Lap 2 didn’t see much change in the order, though the RS300 was already lapping the slower boats, Chris K started pulling away from the rest of the Lasers and Darren picked up a place. Chris in the Comet dropped a few places and Roland in the Solo gained a few. 

Lap 3 saw Hattie capsizing yet again and being towed ashore wet and cold by Jeremy and Nick in the rescue boat. Jon got past James, Darren gained another place and Roland was doing well in the Solo. Jewels was now 2.5 minutes in front of Ron and going really well. 

Lap 4 saw Darren picking up to third and Newton and Sam drop back a bit, James P lost his hat when the Laser boom swiped it off his head and then later in the lap capsized – Bea you’re not supposed to laugh at your Dad, but Karen agrees – it was funny! Rebecca capsized in the Pico and took a long time to get going again but still managed to stay in front of Dan. The Mobic, Ron in his Mirror, the Topper and Picos were all finished on this lap as they had all been lapped by the faster boats. Jewels was going too well in her Mirror and had to do another lap!

Lap 5 didn’t see many changes in position but everyone except the RS300, the RS200 and the first group of Lasers were finished on this lap as they had all been lapped by the time the RS300 came across the line.

Lap 6 finished with the order on the water being James C in the RS300 followed by the Lasers of Chris K, Darren, Ralph, then the RS200 of Newton and Sam , then the Lasers of James P and Jon.

Corrected time saw a change in the results with the Lasers of Chris K and Darren taking first and second followed by Jewels in the Mirror, Ralph in a Laser fourth and James C in the RS300 dropping to fifth with James P sixth.

Thanks to the OOD team of Karen, Aileen, Bea, Hadey, Alex, Jeremy and Nick who all deserve medals because it was very cold!