With a few quality sailors away on holiday the top positions were up for grabs for the 11 who turned up to race under mainly blue skies, but with a challenging SW breeze coming from over the houses. The start was set for the clubhouse end, but with the early races having a beat, reach and a run on the first leg, we could easily have started at the other end!
The breeze was lighter before the break, with lots of dead patches. There were 5 different winners in this session. Paul P picked up two, with Alan, Neil, Clive and Ian also taking the chequered flag once each. Ian showed quick speed off the starts early on, and on another day he would have been away, but not today in the fluky winds.
In the afternoon the breeze, whilst still as challenging, was stronger. This seemed to favour Paul P who won all 5 he sailed in. Alan had a good day with another win and a string of 2nds and thirds. Clive also went well, but just lucked out on a couple of finishes. Ian may well have finished higher on the day if he hadn’t sat out a few races to take on some refreshment. Frans went well and was up towards the front in several races, just being pipped towards the end of the race, but still scoring 3rds, 4ths and 5ths on the day. Paul L also went well in a number of races, again with some good results around 3rd to 5th. Dave managed a 2nd and was very consistent with 6 5th places. John was also had a number of good starts, being up at the front early on several times, but losing out when the fleet came up from behind. Martin and Malcolm also had their moments both scoring a 4th each.
Whilst sailing needed concentration, being RO had it’s challenges as well with a number of close finishes, as boats came from behind with the wind. You could have thrown a net over the fleet at the finish of race 3!A tough day, and whilst good to be racing, all were all glad when the last race was done and dusted. Thanks to Dave and Clive for the photos of proceedings and Malcolm for the full results sheet.
