It�s all over. Cor! I, and the dedicated competitors, can take a mid week break in future. But Thursday NJ & Social evenings will be missed over the coming months.
This has been a record series with 59 different helms contesting it. As the Night Jar was based solely on PH in the past, let�s give preference to the winner and leading crews in that category. Tony King took the series win although only by a single point from AJ & Sue.
In the FH category the clear winners were Alex & Olivia with the GP of Mike & Eric second despite their not contesting the final four round. Joan & Jack came third after a season long contest with Val & Ken who were placed fourth.
Other results of note were David Haselden who was placed 5th on PH, Peter Winfindale 8th and David Roger a brilliant 10th. On FH Hazel was 8th and Jon Anson 10th.
So what happened in the final race? There was a force1 ESE wind leading up to the start and the OD chose 5-3-1 as the course. With 20 boats it was a busy line and Alex (I think) was over at the port pin but immediately restarted without much loss of time.
The wind swung a little up the long beat but was generally true. The journey to the wing mark was a broad reach for most with Joan/Jack & AJ/Sue in the GPs being gradually hauled in, and later overtaken by Alex/Olivia�s 200 and Joe�s 300.
After 3 there was a huge hole followed by a temporary wind shift to the North. The leading crews gybed out of it but, with the wind dropping, a number of boats decided not to round 1 for the finish but to head for home. After 23 to 53 minutes, dependent of fleet position, it was all over.
Thanks go to OD�s, safety crews, meal providers and all the other helpers for making the Series such a success.