This weekend’s racing comprises a series of six races for the Fleet Challenge B trophy with results calculated on a personal handicap basis.
Although it was again sunny, perhaps the forecast of strong winds had put sailors off as there was only seven takers for the first race. Mike/Ian Mac in a F15 had a worse than average start, but soon pulled through to the lead. A combination of a wineglass spinnaker, and rounding a mark the wrong way, soon lost them several places which they then had to try and regain.
The course had numerous reaches, and consequently a multitude of gybes, which proved to be challenging, especially for the single handers, and there was extensive capsize practicising. An extra gybe was necessary due to the course forcing the fleet to loop the leeward mark – oops, you just can’t get the staff!
Mike F found his Streaker was difficult to tack in the gusty conditions, and as he was caught in irons all to regularly he soon retired. Paul C retired also after one too many capsizes.
On handicap, Scumper won the first race 20 secs ahead of Dave/Lynn.
The gusts continued during the 2nd race, and there were more capsizes, this time catching out Dave/Lynn. Hugh had one capsize too many and retired.
Mike/Ian revelled in the conditions and won handsomely, beating Tog by more than 2 mins in a relatively short race, and taking overnight lead ahead of Scumper.
Sunday started overcast with a much more inviting breeze that resulted in 12 boats racing. With four races to run the OD was keen get started on time, and he did (how unusual for a Sunday morning!).
The morning courses were similar, well identical apart from the fact that one of the marks was repositioned to (hopefully) suit the F15 fleet, and although the wind freshened as the morning went on, there were no capsizes and Mike managed to miss every shift and find the, supposedly, only hole in the wind pattern (well that’s his excuse). Pam won both races, with Joe sailing well to finish 2nd in one, while Ethan took 2nd in the other.
The courses changed in the afternoon, and even got the thumbs up from Mike (not that it improved his race positions that much). In race 5, Pam and Joe took 1st and 2nd again putting Pam in a strong position for the series depending on her result in the final race in which Joe again sailed confidently. However, with Herb keen to go forth and pollinate, the last race finished at the race office. Joe led the fleet but went the wrong way through the finish line losing over 2 mins before he corrected his mistake which pushed him back to 5th instead of a deserved 1st.
Overall, Pam’s 2nd secured her the Fleet Challenge B Trophy, with Kath 2nd. Joe’s error meant he missed out on 2nd, finishing 5th overall