Sunset Shield 3  17th August 2022

There was quite a brisk NNE wind this evening and SOOD Ralph used a Committee Boat start with a first beat to 5 then A (between 4 and 5), 9, 2 then B behind the line. (I may have missed a mark out, but the course was not recorded on the race sheet and I didn’t get that far round!).

We had a new addition to the fleet in a Marlin 33. Unfortunately, the helm and crew did not sign the Declaration Sheet so I cannot provide their names, but welcome to them.

There were 12 starters with Sally withdrawing just before the start and Mike A wondering if he should have done the same as he capsized round 9 on the first lap and embedded his boom in the horrible black mud (have you noticed how the smell of that mud seems to persist for ages!).

First back across the line was Jamie H/Laser followed by Mark in another Laser then Newton & Issy/RS200 (nice to see you back racing Issy). Chris K in a Radial and Dave & Ann/Leader crossed the line together battling for  4^th place. Then there was a slight gap before Paul H/Supernova crossed just ahead of Steve & Rick/RS200 and they were about 20 seconds ahead of Mike T/Comet, who in turn was about 20 seconds ahead of Alessandro in his Aero 9. Then five minutes elapsed before Chris & Carol came through in their 420 and they were about 10 minutes ahead of the Marlin.

The race lasted for four laps and as the boats had been recorded in random order rather than positional order it would be too time consuming to try and sort out what happened lap by lap (life is too short!)  

Suffice to say that at the end of the last lap the order was – 1^st Mark; 2^nd Newton & Issy; 3^rd Jamie H; 4^th Dave & Ann; 5^th Steve & Rick; 6^th Chris K.

On corrected time this changes to – 1^st Mark/Laser; 2^nd Dave & Ann/Leader; 3^rd Mike T/Comet; 4^th Jamie H/Laser; 5^th Newton & Issy/RS200; 6^th Chris K/Radial

Thanks to SOOD Ralph Page (second time in three weeks!) and the race team of Anne Mir, John Windass, Richard Hobson and Rob Harrison.