While the south of the country basked in some warm spring weather this weekend, Bass didn’t! However, with a snow covering on the surrounding hills, there was a beautiful backdrop for those boats that did venture out . Drysuits (for most!), with several layers of warm clothing underneath, and hats or balaclavas, it was more like a frostbite series. There were many good gusts over the weekend, but there some compensatory holes as well!
Saturday’s racing was monopolised by Steve Hunt and Ruth Critchley, who secured the first beats then broke away off wind, leaving other RS400s to fight it out with some close racing. Alan Nicholson was the first of the weekend to capsize, but he wouldn’t be the only one! Paul Burnell and Tim Chittenden did well to recover from one gybe after filling the boat a little.
As predicted, Roy’s curry on Saturday led to a lot more wind on Sunday. Much to Ruth’s relief, Steve had left to go to work, so Mark Somerville with Andy Thomas had some good racing against William Carruthers and Lesley Braddock. It tended to be a case of whoever made the least mistakes came out on top. Andy T, new to the RS, struggled to hoist the kite in one gust, so it was their turn for a swim, but they quickly recovered and were soon back on the pace. But the holes that were there on Saturday, came back with a vengeance and when coupled with big shifts, there were a few nervous crews around. Andy T was treated to a further capsize while gybing.
Whether it was nervous exhaustion, or increasingly gusty winds, but several sailors opted out of the afternoon race, leaving only three takers. There was an ominous start for William and Lesley when they capsized just off the end of the jetty while trying to sort out the rudder, but they managed to get to the line just after the starting signal. Mark was first to the windward mark but opted not to fly the kite on the first couple of reaches, however William and Lesley took the chance on the second reach and quickly caught up with Mark. However, David and Lynn Lawson in their GP were not far behind. After a short beat to 9, Mark took no chances and flew the kite, although William tried it he soon realised he couldn’t lay the mark and took it down again. Mark came a cropper when taking the kite down at the gybe mark allowing the other two boats through. Everyone persevered for another lap, but it was on the final gybe when that William capsized (for the first time during a race – well it had to happen sometime!). Not a good time to get stuck in the mud! David was first to finish followed by Mark. Righting William’s boat led to the question how many people does it take to get a boat out of the mud – two rescue crew, the official starter, OD (and his assistant!), and another crew brought from the shore!
The results show some consistent sailing, but also, that the 3 points given to an OD for giving up racing for a day, were sufficient to secure good positions in a series – David, Saturday’s OD, coming first overall with Neil, Sunday’s OD, finishing second
Question is, how long will those men in their shorties survive?
Final results (race 3 subject to checking!?)
CELEBRITY GLASS TROPHY
PN Boat Helm Class 1 2 3 4 Pts
1 13176 D LAWSON GP OD DNS 1 1 5
2 1148 N CURRIE RS400 2 2 OD DNS 7
3 1049 M SOMERVILLE RS400 RTD 3 3 2 8
4 937 W CARRUTHERS RS400 3 4 2 RTD 9
5 1140 J CHRISTIE VORTEX 5 5 4 DNS 14
6 1210 S HUNT RS400 1 1 DNS DNS 15
7 2324 R BLACKBURN LARK 6 6 5 DNS 17
8 1146 P BURNELL RS400 4 8 6 DNS 18
9 13839 D NICHOLSON GP 7 7 DNS DNS 27
10 160516 T CHITTENDEN LAS DNS DNS RTD DNS 34
11 103 A NICHOLSON VARIO RTD DNS DNS DNS 37
11 69960 M CHAPPEL FF RTD DNS DNS DNS 37
Points for RTD = 11 9 8 4
Points for DSQ = 11 9 8 4
Points for DNS = 13
3 races to count