Spring Series 1 – 20th March 2022

It was a lovely sunny morning and with an East wind of about 10 mph, SOOD Mike T opted to head down towards Tektona’s resting place to start the race with a course of 1, 3, A, 5, 4 and back through the start.

Pursuit Race

15 starters this morning, slightly more than we have been getting of late and early starter Adrian B in his Crescent (nice to see you out racing) was first back across the line, followed by Chris H/Comet, Emily/4.7 and Roland S/Solo. Closing fast were Chris K/Laser and James C/RS300 followed by the Lasers of Adrian F and James P. Mike C/Solo rolled through in 9^th place just ahead of Aileen/Comet, Alistair/Laser and Sally/Comet. Thomas M was through in 13^th followed by Nigel/Laser and Alessandro/Aero.

At the gun James C had powered through to take the victory and the finishing order was – 1^st James C; 2^nd Chris K; 3^rd Chis H; 4^th Roland; 5^th Emily; 6^th Adrian B

Handicap Race

Mike tweaked the course for the second race by putting in B instead of 1 as the first mark and Sally and Adrian B opted to sit this one out.

James C/RS300 was first back across the line with a healthy lead over the Lasers of Chris K and James P. Next through the line were the Solos of Roland and Mike C with Chris H/Comet sitting between them. Adrian F and Alistair both in Lasers were having a good battle for 7^th spot and crossed the line with only 5 seconds between them and they were only just ahead of Emily/4.7, Thomas/Laser and Nigel/Laser (a large banket would have covered them all!). Further back were Aileen/Comet and Alessandro trying to come to terms with his flighty Aero.

Remarkably at the end of the second lap there was no change in the order of the first seven boats. However, Nigel had put the booster on and moved up three places to 8^th. Emily and Thomas were still 9^th and 10^th and Alistair had slipped back to 11^th. Having said that, they were all very close together and Aileen had come up to join them. Alessandro received the gun at the end of his second lap as James C had lapped him just before the line.

James C crossed the line to take victory on the water and the four boats behind him finished in the same order as the previous two laps. The loser on this last lap was Mike C who slipped down from 6^th to 10^th place being passed by Adrian F, a resurgent Alistair (up four places), Thomas and Emily. Nigel also slid back three places to 11^th and was almost caught by Aileen.

The order on the water was – 1^st James C; 2^nd Chris K; 3^rd James P; 4^th Roland; 5^th Chris H; 6^th Adrian F

On corrected time this becomes – 1^st Chris K; 2^nd Roland; 3^rd James P; 4^th James C; 5^th Chris H; 6^th Emily

Thanks to SOOD Mike Trussler and the race team of Chris Andrews, Paul Waterman, Samuel Wright (and son?).