20th July – Summer Series Race 6

A lovely force two wind for the next two rounds of the Summer Series on Sunday. An unusual direction of a South East led resulted in a lovely reach across the lake for part of the course. The wind kept shifting and there were several lulls which caught several sailors out.

The pursuit race was started by the Comets of Aileen and Chris H, before the rest of the fleet set off in pursuit. Hugh (ILCA7) & Mike (470) caught up with the rest of the fleet, having set off later, but couldn’t get past. Aileen got ahead of Chris H and held onto the lead for the rest of the race, holding off Newton (Solo) behind her. Elsewhere, Chris K (ILCA 6), Roland S (Solo) and Rhys P (ILCA 6) were having a close battle, before Rhys snapped his mast, forcing a retirement.

Aileen finished 1st, with Newton 2nd and Chris H 3rd.

The Handicap Race had a hectic start, with a wind shift causing a heavy starboard bias. Chris K was forced out to avoid hitting the committee boat, Aileen tried to sneak in but hit Newton and had to complete turns.

Roland S, Mike and Hugh emerged the clear winners at the start, the three of them being first to the windward mark. Hugh managed to pull clear after the first lap and took advantage of the battle between Roland & Mike to increase his lead.

Newton meanwhile had recovered from his bad start and caught up with Roland & Mike, passing Roland on the 3rd lap.

Hugh crossed the line first, with Mike 2nd and Newton 3rd.

On Handicap, Hugh finished first, beating Chris H into 2nd by just one second. Newton was 3rd. There was just over a minute separating the top 6 boats in what was an incredibly close race.

A big thank you to James and his team for organizing the races.

After the race, there were Bacon Rolls, made by Ann

We’re back on Wednesday for the next rounds of the Junior Gillette and the Gillette Series