It was warm but windy this morning with a SSW wind of around 15 mph, but rising at times and some strong gusts coming through. Mike A set the firs mark as A (about halfway between 3 and 4 close to the buoy line), then 9, 5, 8, 6, 7 and back through the start.
Pursuit Race
There were 13 starters and at the end of the first lap the first away, young William in his Topper was still leading with Hadey/4.7 in 2nd place. Chris K/Radial came through in 3rd place followed by Chris H/Comet, Newton/Solo, Darren/Laser and Mike T in another Comet.
At the end of two laps Hadey had taken the lead with Chris K in 2nd place and Paul R in his Aero 7 was up to 3rd place and catching the leading two rapidly. It seemed certain that he would snatch victory but then he capsized after rounding A and they escaped but Chris K just managed to get past Hadey to take 1st place. Paul recovered well and manged to retain 3rd place just in front of Richard S/Laser.
The final order was – 1st Chris K; 2nd Hadey; 3rd Paul R; 4th Richard S; 5th Newton; 6th Darren.
Handicap Race
Hadey decided to sit the second race out. The start was quite hectic and Darren on port tack was nearly put into the bank by Paul steaming down the line on starboard!
At the end of the first lap Paul/Aero 7 crossed the line first with Darren/Laser a minute behind him and closely followed by Chris K and Jon in Radials. Richard S/Laser came through in 5th place followed by Jamie MF/Laser and Mike T/Comet, the latter two crossing the line virtually together. Next along were Chris H/Comet and Adrian/Rooster (as usual Adrian using his largest sail when the wind gets up rather than dropping down to a smaller sail!). These two were followed about a minute later by William S in his Topper and Becky S in a Pico and they continued to battle for the Sadler family honour throughout the race! William had actually capsized earlier in the lap as had Jamie MF and Newton called it a day.
Lap 2
No change in the position of the first five, but Darren was keeping Paul honest at the front and Chris K and Jon were having a terrific scrap for 3rd place. Jamie came in to retire from 6th place and Adrian passed Chris H to move to 7th and Becky passed William to move up to 10th.
Lap 3
Again, no change in the first five but the battles continued and Adrian moved up another place by passing Mike T. Further back William had repassed Becky and these two along with Chris H ahead of them received the hooter at the end of the lap. Mike T just missed the hooter crossing the line just 30 seconds ahead of Paul who was close to lapping him.
Lap 4 and last
Paul crossed the line in 1st place to take victory on the water, but Darren was only 30 seconds behind him. The old strong wind maestro Jon pipped Chris K for 3rd place in the battle of the Radials.
The order on the water was – 1st Paul R; 2nd Darren; 3rd Jon; 4th Chris K; 5th Richard S; 6th Adrian; 7th Mike T
On corrected time this becomes – 1st Darren/Laser; 2nd Paul/Aero 7; 3rd Chris K/Radial; 4th Jon/Laser (opted to apply full rig PY); 5th Richard S/Laser; 6th Mike T/Comet.
Well done to all for persevering in testing conditions, particularly William and Becky.
Thanks to SOOD Mike Arnott and special thanks to the race team of Alistair & Laura Johnson, Christine Hunt, Chris & Toby Berresford, Frances & Dan Sadler. These all volunteered at the last minute to enable the race to be run – thanks again!