September is drawing to a close, and the temperature dipping, but the sun shone for an afternoon of medium winds to power the fleets around the course. With a couple of incidents before the start Nigel didn’t actually make it over the start line… First of all Paul got his Laser’s mainsheet caught around the bow of Nigel’s GP, causing Paul to capsize, and then be towed backwards! Then, just before the start Nigel capsized, righted the boat and capsized again getting the mast stuck in the mud, so it was all over before he started. Despite this, Nigel’s overall results were sufficient to beat Val/Ken, who won both races, by a couple of points to win the Autumn Cup.
In the F15s Mike/Kayla took an early lead from Ian/Tim who sailed well on the run to take the lead for a while, but Mike broke back through on the following beat, and held it through to the finish. The finishing order was the same in the second race. Mike/Kayla’s results gave them a clean sweep to win the Dawson Trophy, with Ian/Lezli-Ann 2nd.
After some soul searching, Joe was pleased to have opted for his Radial sail in the blustery conditions. He led the handicap fleet, winning on handicap from Tog and Paul Gannon, with the same results in the second race. This maintained Joe’s clear lead in the Skiddaw Trophy, with Paul 2nd.
With no racing in the slow handicap fleet, Mik kept his lead to win the MT Bates Trophy.
Please note that Sunday’s racing will start at 11.30 am as usual, rather than 14.30 hrs as incorrectly stated in the handbook
Sunday’s showery start put Mike F off preparing his boat for a short while until it stopped! At the start he held on to his lay line, AJ/Sue were hoping a gap would amazingly appear, it didn’t, so they squeezed between the starboard start pin and the Bates, got caught on the anchor warp and had to re-round, giving the rest of the fleet a 75 sec head start!
Jeff, with novice crew Hannah, were caught out by a gust after unravelling a wine glass twist in their gennaker. After taking a while to extract their mast from the mud, they made an early trip back to shore. John/Tim had gear problems and had to retire too.
Mike/Kayla led the fleet and built up a 4 min lead on Val/Ken which was cut back to just 15 secs when the handicap was applied. As the race was part of the two race Fleet Challenge, it meant all was to race for in the afternoon race.
The second race started without incident, but AJ/Sue soon realised that they had rigged the genoa incorrectly wrapping the halyard around the spinnaker halyard, so they cut their losses, and retired. Mike built up a bigger lead this time, securing another 1st place to win the Fleet Challenge, with Val 2nd.