Spring Series 6 – 24th April 2022

Quite a good breeze this morning about 12 – 14 mph coming from the North but veering NW to NE at times. Mike A set a course of A (middle of lake between 8 and 5), 5, 9, 2, 4 and back through the start.  

Pursuit Race

A slight increase in numbers to twenty four starters.

At the end of the first lap, the early starters were still leading the way with William S/Topper in front followed by Ron/Mirror, Becky S/Pico, Dan S/Pico, Frances S/Topper, Chris H and Aileen in their Comets and Paul W/Morbic. The next group was the intermediate starters with Thomas M and Nigel in Radials and Ed in his Aero 5.   

The first of the Lasers was Hugh battling with Karen, Jon, Darren, Ralph and James P, then there was a slight gap back to the second group of Lasers, Chris K, Richard S, Rick, Adrian and Alistair with Steve S/Blaze sitting in the middle of them. Last man away was still last, Mike T having gone from a Comet via a 470 to an Aero 9, he could be in a Mirror next week!

Ron had taken the lead by the end of the second lap with William S down to 2^nd place, Chris H up to 3^rd and Thomas up to 4^th, Chris K up to 5^th and James P 6^th.

At the 35 minute gun the final order was – 1^st Ed/Aero 5; 2^nd Thomas/Radial; 3^rd Ralph/Laser; 4^th Chris H/Comet: 5^th Chris K/Laser; 6^th Steve/Blaze.

Five different boats in the first six!

Handicap Race

Jamie/Laser joined the fleet for the second race.  

Lap 1

Darren/Laser  got a flyer and crossed the line 30 seconds ahead of second place man Steve S in his Blaze and these two were never caught and led for all four laps of the race with Darren gradually increasing his lead every lap. Chris K/Laser and Ed/Aero 5 crossed the line together in the battle for 3^rd place with Karen/Laser (although using a Radial rig) and Hugh/Laser were also very close together competing for 5^th. Mike T/Aero 9 was through in 7^th place just ahead of the Lasers of Ralph and Alistair and the Radial of Thomas. Then there was another bunch of Lasers all very close together, Richard S, James P, Rick, Jon and Adrian (lucky to have Hadey recording the times and placers as she can write very quickly!). Next along were Nigel/Radial and Jamie/Laser being chased by the Comets of Chris H and Aileen with Ron/Mirror a little further back. Then came the Sadler family fleet with William/Topper leading Becky/Pico, Dan/Pico and Frances/Topper followed some minutes later by Paul W/Morbic who had declined to start at the same time as everyone else.

Lap 2

In the battle for 3^rd place Chris K had eased away from Ed as had Hugh from Karen in the 5^th place battle. Further back Jon was the star man gaining five places to move up to 9^th and Rick was up two places to 11^th. Jamie came through in 17^th place and cheerfully disqualified himself as he had missed a mark but informed us he would continue to sail on for the fun of it (well done that man).  There were no other changes in position but Dan said he was dropping out of the race as his kicker was broken. Frances and Paul W received the gun at the end of this lap.

Lap 3

No change in the first three, but Hugh had passed Ed to cross the line in 4^th place. Ralph was up one place to 7^th by passing Mike T and Richard S was up three places to 10^th. James P gained a place by passing Rick and Adrian was up two places. Alistair was the loser in this group dropping to the back of the Laser pack just behind Nigel and just in front of fast finishing Darren on his last lap.

At the end of this lap Alistair received the gun along with Chris H, Aileen, Ron, William S and Becky.

Lap 4

The first eleven crossed the line in the same order as the previous lap, although Darren had increased his lead over Steve S in 2^nd place to nearly two minutes. Karen and Ralph contesting 6^th place were sailed off the line by young William, who was also finishing albeit a lap down. The result was that Karen and Ralph had to tack back towards the CB to cross the line and had a lively discussion about right of way when finishing (not sure that we grasped the niceties, but perhaps Karen will interpret the rules for us). The only change in position was Thomas regaining two places by passing Rick and Adrian.

The final order on the water was – 1^st Darren; 2^nd Steve; 3^rd Chris K; 4^th Hugh; 5^th Ed; 6^th Karen.

On corrected time this changes to – 1^st Darren; 2^nd Ed; 3^rd Chris K; 4^th Hugh; 5^th Karen; 6^th Steve

Thanks to SOOD Mike Arnott and the race team of Hadey Lines, Hilary Sharp, Issy Jenkins, Janos Ratkai, Leo Coppens and Nick Jones.