12 skippers turned out for our annual Christmas race, this race normally attracts quite a few visitors, but for the obvious reasons, we ran with a limited entry of 13 for 2020.
The wind was kind to us and decided to blow straight down the middle from the top end, the strength was slap bang in the middle of ‘A’ rig and ‘B’ rig and after Peter had laid the course, the racing commenced at 11am under the guidance of Jack and Bernie, with the fleet split on choice of rig, it was decided to run 2 races and then have a 5 minute rig change break. It was the ‘A’ rig that proved to be the correct choice in the first 2 races and by the start of race 3 everyone had there ‘A’ rigs on, except for Andrew who had unfortunately broke his ‘A’ rig jib boom so was going to sail in ‘B’ rig until winch problems caused him to retire for the day. At least it gave him the opportunity to take a few photos – thanks Andrew
It was extremely close sailing throughout the fleet with many finishes seeing as many as 4 boats crossing in a blanket finish, shifts that were both frustrating and elevating to all gave us some close sailing. Paul Allen showed the fleet the way by taking 7 wins on the trot before tiring in the final 3 races of the day, not surprising really after 4 Scotch eggs and 2 sandwiches for his lunch. Does that counts as 6 substantial meals in the eyes of some? John Brierley finally found his form after lunch with 3 seconds and a first after a poor first session for him.
After 12 races the light began to fade and it was decided to bring a halt to proceedings at 3.20, after de-rigging we held our ‘Secret Santa’ prizegiving with some beautifully wrapped presents of all sizes and shapes, mine is now under the tree until Christmas day or the dog eats it, whichever comes first. Race wins went to Paul Allen, Martin Roberts, John Brierley and Bill Culshaw.
Many thanks to Jack and Bernie once again, much appreciated by all.
- Paul Allen 27 britpop 13pts 8 wins
- Martin Roberts 94 Slim Chine 26pts 1 win
- Graham Elliott 27 Widget 32pts
- John Brierley 84 britpop 33pts 2 wins
- Graham Birkett 133 Widget 51pts
- Peter Baldwin 63 Lintel MMX 53pts
- Bill Culshaw 21 britpop 55pts 1 win
- Lawrence Drennan 57 britpop 58pts
- Neil Westbrook 03 Widget 86pts
- Charles Legg 25 Rubix 103pts
- Matt Stephenson 61 Widget 105pts
- Andrew Peter 66 V9 127pts
After 12 races and two discards
