This year a different format has been adopted for this series in that we are trying out having eight short races over a weekend.
Before the start of the first race, the gusty conditions was sufficient to make Paul Burnell and Neil Currie think twice about even hoisting their sails. But were they right? On the first beat one gust that came through flattened Steve Hunt (well he did comment that if it’s windy he expects to capsize), Jim Christie and Rory Yardley, but by the end of the beat, William Carruthers was in the lead, the wind had died, and the rest of the fleet were bunching and drifting around the windward mark. You would think there was little room for error due to having such short races, but Steve Hunt, despite capsizing, spotted the wind filling in and was soon back in the lead. The rest of the afternoon’s racing continued in a bit of a stop start manner, with Hugh Godfrey emerging as the overnight leader. As he was OD for Sunday’s racing, would it be cancelled while he is ahead?!
Sunday morning was beautiful, sunny with a slight breeze, something that we haven’t been used to for a while. The breeze picked up for the second of the morning races, but over lunchtime it faded to nothing, so it was indeed time to abandon racing for the day. However, by this time Steve Hunt and Ruth Critchley had secured another couple of firsts and the series.
FLEET CHALLENGE A
PN Boat Helm Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts
1 1210 S HUNT RS400 4 2 1 1 1 1 4
2 13839 H GODFREY GP 1 1 5 2 OD DNS 7
3 1148 N CURRIE RS400 DNS 8 2 3 6 3 14
4 2324 R BLACKBURN LARK 6 3 RTD DNS 3 5 17
5 3473 M MOORE FF 5 4 3 RTD 9 9 21
6 167828 I MACPHERSON LAS 2 7 RTD 4 10 10 23
7 937 W CARRUTHERS RS400 8 9 4 RTD 8 6 26
8 1146 P BURNELL RS400 DNS 10 6 DNS 4 7 27
9 1049 M SOMERVILLE RS400 OD DNS DNS DNS 2 2 30
10 13749 R DAWSON RS400 3 5 DNS 5 DNS DNS 36
11 40894 S HALL TOP 11 12 7 6 DNS DNS 36
12 13733 A HODGKINS GP 7 DNS DNS DNS 7 4 41
13 1140 J CHRISTIE VORTEX 10 6 RTD DNS DNS DNS 51
14 1125 JoHALLIDAY RS400 DNS DNS DNS DNS 5 11 62
15 338 R YARDLEY RS300 9 11 DNS DNS DNS DNS 66
16 13326 S WATSON GP DNS DNS DNS DNS 13 8 69
17 103 A NICHOLSON VARIO DNS DNS DNS DNS 11 14 71
18 400 T KNOWLES RSFEVA DNS DNS DNS DNS 14 12 72
19 13839 D NICHOLSON GP DNS DNS DNS DNS 12 13 73
20 813467 D WRIGHT GP DNS DNS DNS 7 DNS DNS 76
21 122174 P DILLON LAS DNS DNS DNS DNS 15 15 76
22 913467 M WRIGHT GP DNS DNS 8 DNS DNS DNS 77
Points for RTD = 12 13 12 10 16 16
Points for DSQ = 12 13 12 10 16 16
Points for DNS = 23
4 races to count