New Year Cup – 2nd January 2022
It was quite a pleasant morning for the cup race with a SW wind about 15 mph. Mike A set the first mark as 4 then 2, 9, 5, 6, 7 and back through the start.
There were 32 boats out, which may be a record for the New Year Cup and will take some beating as we go through 2022. It was good to see some new racers out and some returning after a spell away.
At the end of the first lap, James C/RS300 was already well in the lead with the Lasers of Mark and Ralph chasing followed by Newton & Sam in the RS200 and Roland in his Solo. Ed/Radial came through in 6th not far ahead of Ken/Laser and Karen and Richard S in Radials and Chris K in another Laser. Then there was a large group battling for the mid-fleet positions with Emily/4.7, Dave & Ann/Leader, James P, Adrian, Jeremy and Rick in Lasers, Ella and Will in Radials and Mike C/Solo all in the mix. About a minute later Jewels/Mirror crossed the line leading Hattie/Radial and the Comets of Aileen and Chris H with Ron in his Mirror another minute further back. William/Topper and Dan S/Pico were having a good battle ahead of the Toppers of Francis, Peter A and 47518 (sorry we did not get your name down) and the Pico of Rebecca S. Paul W in his Morbic was the lanterne rouge holder, which was not surprising as he decide to change his rigging on the water during the start sequence!
Lap 2 saw no change in the order of the first five, but Chris K had moved up to 6th. Further back Adrian gained two places passing Ken and Dave & Ann and Mike C, Jewels and Hattie got past Ella. In the battle of the Comets Chris was just ahead of Aileen and William in his Topper was just holding off Dan in the Pico.
On Lap 3, Richard S moved up to 5th with no change in the positions ahead of him. Ken and Adrian and Will were fighting for 12th place with Dave & Ann in 14th and they were managing to stay ahead of Rick and Jeremy. Mike C was ploughing a lonely furrow and behind him Hattie had passed Jewels. Then there was a really close battle for 19th place between Chris H and Aileen with Ron not far behind them. By this time a number of the back markers had retired, but Peter A and Paul W had persevered and were finished at the end of their third circuit.
The end of Lap 4 saw James C even further ahead, but Mark, Ralph and Newton & Sam still retained their positions behind him. Roland had regained 5th spot with Chris K still 6th and Ed had moved past Karen to 7th with Richard S and Emily behind her. Adrian, Will and James P (recovering from an earlier capsize) passed Dave & Ann to move up places and these were the last to avoid being lapped by James C finishing his race, although Rick did a bit of wiggling to ensure he was lapped! So, Rick, Jeremy, Mike C, Hattie, Chris H, Jewels, Aileen, Ron, Dan, William all received the gun at the end of this lap.
At the end of the fifth and last lap James C crossed the line in 1st place some four minutes ahead of Mark in 2nd. Chris K and Karen both gained places on this last lap to finish 5th and 6th. The final order on the water was –
1st James C; 2nd Mark; 3rd Ralph; 4th Newton & Sam; 5th Chris K; 6th Karen.
On corrected time there were some significant changes with the order becoming –
1st Mark/Laser; 2nd Emily/4.7; 3rd Jewels/Mirror; 4th Ralph/Laser; 5th Karen/Radial; 6th Chris K/Laser.
Thanks to SOOD Mike A and the race team of Adrian B, Bea P, Chris & Toby B, Frantz C, Jess B and Marcin T.