Midweek Mug 1
A glorious sunny day, a light but really quite steady breeze, six boats; what more could UTLSC ask of the first day of the season’s Wednesday racing? Well, the OOD (John Dabbs) might have wanted the breeze to have stayed in the east, on the basis of which he had designed the course, rather than moving well to the north, which made for a reaching start rather than the intended beat. And Linda Spiller might have liked the pin in her tiller to stay pinned rather than finding herself rudderless on the lee shore beyond Dam Red. And Steve Axford might have liked a little more time to get on the water so that he knew the course and didn’t (when leading) have to circle West White until the following boat turned up and told him which the next buoy was.
The Streaker of Robin Spiller was first over the start line or perhaps it was the Solo of Adam Hilton, but it was the full sail Laser of Steve Axford which demanded water at Dam Red and rounded that first buoy in first place with the Solo following, the Streaker next and the Bosun after that with Sally Wills at the helm and her mentor Roger Heasman barking the orders. The first lap ended with Adam Hilton holding a six second lead over Steve Axford and it wasn’t until after Inlet on lap 2 that Steve’s dominance was finally established. He finished the race a minute and a half ahead. Adam and Robin continued to skirmish with the Streaker a boat length ahead at Inlet on lap 2 and again at Pinkie only for the extra square footage of the Solo’s sail to pull it ahead each time. The Bosun and Geoff Floyd’s Solo were rarely far apart with Geoff twenty seconds ahead at the end of lap 1 but Sally thirty seconds ahead at the finish of lap 2. Eventually Linda Spiller’s determined fight back got her past the Floyd Solo. The handicaps punished Steve for not knowing the course.
Results:
1.      Adam Hilton (Solo)
2.      Sally Wills and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
3.      Robin Spiller (Streaker)
4.      Steve Axford (Laser Full)
5.      Geoff Floyd (Solo)
6.      Linda Spiller (Laser Full)
Many thanks to John Dabbs who ran the race, to Steve Axford who (in the absence of both the computer and John Duncalf) calculated the handicapped results and to Roger Heasman who put the safety boat to bed and closed everything up afterwards.