The sunshine continues but the temperature eased with the NE wind. Including the Catapult fleet, which joined us again as part of their travel we s trophy series, there was over 40 boats on the water.
The wind was consistent, if only in the way there were major swings of up to 45 degrees throughout the afternoon!
The two Henrys in their RS200 didn�t have the best start when their clew outhaul disconnected as they powered up on the start line! After some minutes of trying to balance the boat as they reconnected it they were underway again, only for the same thing to happen. Time to go ashore for a proper fix�
The two race series for the Paul Carruthers Memorial Trophy was won by Dave/Lynn with two wins. No one else had similar consistency in the conditions with just four points separating the next six positions. Matt/Oliver in their RS200 finished 2nd with 12 points.
As part of the VE day celebrations, there was a bring and eat buffet in the clubhouse and Bongos bingo during the evening.
Sunday was cloudier, and much cooler, with the wind being somewhat stronger than Saturday most of time, though there were various lulls to contend with, and the direction did not shift quite so extremely (well until the final race of the day!). Racing formed part of the weekend series for the F15 Jak Pot, Handicap May Holiday, GP Lyne Tankard, and Mirror Peel Pot trophies.
The gusts that passed through gave some good planing opportunities, but there was only a couple of capsizes.
Three Optimists helmed by novice sailors had some personal coaching to get them around the course successfully.
With an extended six fleet start sequence, fortunately there were no OCS, or general recalls. The Asymmetric fleet had their own windward leeward course, and after counting two of the three races sailed, four boats were within two points, led by Chris/Evie, with Alex/Sakia 2nd, both in RS200s. In the GPs, Dave/Lynn won all three races and lead ahead of Paul/Vicky. Robbie D/Toggle lead the F15s with two wins, followed by Rob/Chris. Ian in his OK also has two wins and leads the handicap fleet, with Jude in an ILCA 6 2nd. James/Poppy in RS Feva lead the slow handicap fleet, with Ian/Toby in a Mirror 2nd.
Bank holiday Monday was overcast and cold, with a NE wind, but it stayed dry! A hard weekend camping, sailing, and celebrating VE day had taken it’s toll on various sailors and the turnout was somewhat reduced. The wind continued to swing, and vary in strength, though not often as dramatically as earlier in the weekend!
There were four Catapults for the final race of their open, and the finishing order matched that of most of the previous five races, with Gareth Ede winning overall, John Terry 2nd and George Evans 3rd.
In the Asymmetric fleet, Chris/Evie added a 2nd to Sunday’s results to maintain their lead and win the series, while some consistent racing by Matt/Oliver pulled them up to 2nd overall. Scumper won the morning race to finish 3rd overall.
Dave/Lynn had a clean sweep in the GPs to win the Lyne Tankard, and AJ/Sue had two second places to finish 2nd overall.
In the F15s, Robbie D/Toggle took another 1st to maintain their lead in the Jak Pot series, and Rob/Chris won the final race to finish 2nd overall.
Ian held his lead in the handicap fleet with another win to take the May Holiday trophy, Rory in a K1 won the last race finishing 2nd overall, and a 2nd for Jonathan in his Devoti D-Zero pulled him up to 3rd overall.
The Fevas had a good day in the slow handicap fleet, with James/Poppy winning overall, Rory/Andrew 2nd, and Grace/Gracie 3rd. The three Optimists helmed by novice sailors continued with their personal coaching, and showed a distinct improvement at the end on the weekend, despite being led astray on the wrong course by their ‘buddies’!
With almost 60 boats on the water, and 35 starts, all of which were clean(!), over the weekend it was a busy weekend for the race management team!
