Racing – 13th April

Finally, a return to a Southwesterly wind for the Spring series today. 13 boats took to the water in a Force 3/4 wind. Despite the return of our old faithful wind direction, the shifts were still present.

The Pursuit Race had several close battles, albeit spread across the fleet. Richard, Emily and Hugh, we’re jostling for an advantage throughout the race, Richard however remained ahead at the finish gun.

Up at the sharp end of the fleet, the Solo’s were right on the transom of Chris H in his comet for much of the race. Only Newton managed to get past him, taking 1st in his Solo. Chris H was therefore 2nd. Darren took 3rd.

The Handicap race began with a chaotic start, Mark B tried a port hand flier, but was met by several boats starting on starboard and had to take avoiding action. Darren meanwhile decided not to take part in any of the start procedures, and capsized on the buoy line, producing the only capsize of the day.

Steve S shot off in his Blaze, leaving the rest of the fleet behind. Newton and Hugh followed, fighting for position, with Emily skulking close behind.

Further back, the rest of the fleet were incredibly tight, with 5 boats finishing within 10 seconds of each other.

Steve crossed the line first, followed by Hugh and Newton. On Handicap, Emily took 1st Place in her ILCA 6, followed by Newton (Solo) and Chris H (Comet)

A big thank you to Karen and her team for organizing some great racing today.

A reminder that all of our race teams are sailing club members and volunteers, it costs nothing to thank them at the end of the race to show our appreciation for them giving up their Sunday to run the races for us.

We’re back on Wednesday for the first race of the Commodore’s Cup, with a meal afterwards, hope to see you all there.