Sunshine and no rain, unusual so far for July, if only the wind had straightened it would of been perfect conditions for the 8 skippers sailing RG65’s, the wind was blowing from the top left which means at times it bends around the houses, through the houses, over the houses, you get the picture.
The choices for which end of the start line to start, start low in the slightly more consistent wind and hope for a shift or a lift to take you into the windward mark or start high and hope you don’t sail into a hole, middle to bottom seem to work best if you played the averages.
All 8 skippers chose a reduced height full area rig to try and cope with the gusty conditions, 6 conventional rigs and 2 swing rigs, the conventional rig definitely having the advantage.
Unfortunately we lost Dave Williams before the start due to a defunct rudder servo but as always Dave willingly volunteered to stick around and start and score the fleet, thanks Dave. We also lost John Brierley after 6 races, after putting on the waders on retrieving his boat attached to a mark warp with something. We also had other skippers missing the odd race due to running repairs or rig changes or even one skipper launching his boat but forgetting to switch it on, always worth waggling your rudder before releasing I find.
Most races saw the fleet quite spread out due to the conditions but at least 4 races were hotly contested where any one of 4 boats could have got the win.
After 12 races we had 4 race winners, Graham (Elestronica) 8 wins, Bill (Ivy) 2 wins, Peter (Uno) 1 win and John B (Uno) 1 win.
Scores after 12 races with 2 discards….
- Graham Elliott Electronica 09 12pts
- Bill Culshaw Ivy 21 23pts
- Peter Baldwin Uno 63 29pts
- Alan Watkinson Uno 23 34pts
- John Brierley Uno 84 52pts
- Charles Legg Uno 26 55pts
- John Carlin Uno 87 61pts
Many thanks to Dave Williams for running the day and keeping us all in line.
