For some people that have been camping since Thursday, Saturday marks the middle of their weekend break, and they have been joined by the Southport and GP14 cruisers. With a good westerly breeze, and some sunny spells, there was an excellent turnout with over 30 boats, including 11 Mirrors. The Smith family had a large contingent in the Mirror fleet and it is not surprising that they were amongst the flurry of boats over the line and caused a general recall!
Results wise, it was a day to confuse the sailing secretary when it came to recording the results as there were numerous swaps between helm and crews (Olivia/Alex, Amber/Robin, Izzie/Ben) NB Ant/Jo weren’t in that list just yet, though they did swap to Ant’s RS200 and had various problems including their mainsail slipping down. Also, there were some new faces in the Mirrors with Graham, Alan and Keith trying their hand, while Scumper sailed with Matthew in a F15, and Emily went back into a Laser for the first time in many years!
The winds afforded some good planing conditions at times, and there weren’t many capsizes, not that was Dave Lawson’s excuse for getting wet as he missed his toestraps and took a quick dip.
To top all this off there was some good racing and close finishes.
Sunday ‘s expectation of light winds was not to be. As the morning race went on, the wind increased together with the number of capsizes. All in all it proved a bit too much for some and they didn’t venture out after lunch.
�Though there were no recalls throughout the day, some starts were busy, and not without incident, and penalty turns had to be done. Just to prove that miracles can happen, Simon was seen to be one of those boats doing his turns! However, it didn’t stop him from working his way back to the front of the F15s and taking another win.
The overnight leaders are Simon/Jon in the F15s, Mark/Banter in the Handicap fleet, Dave/Lynn in GPs, and Andy in the Mirrors. The Bank Holiday wind was slightly less than forecast and expected so there was only a handful of takers, especially as the expectation was that that the wind would increase and the rain would descend.
A simple triangular course gave competitors some good reaches and the gusts provided great planing conditions. There were no capsizes, and all those that sailed completed the course, and were pleased to have raced, though no-one was interested in the final race. Final results remained as overnight.
The early finish enabled tents and awnings to be packed away dry, and me to cut my lawns before the the onset of rain!
[lg_slideshow folder=”album/17sundry/Aug Hol” display=”slide”]
