AM: Equinoctial Cup 2
 
Only just over a week after the lake was carpeted with several inches of snow, blue skies and light breezes enticed 10 sailors onto the water for the midday race.  Amongst them were a couple of new boat/helm combinations, with Adeney Pooley making a first appearance in his Graduate, as well Val Shillito making her debut in the Otter.  Unfortunately, Val's race was short-lived as a rigging fault left her crippled with minimum manoeuvrability and she had to retire.  The RS200 also had a new helm, with Liz Boyd making a long journey to try her hand 
at Tamar sailing.  As the midday horn sounded to start the race, however, it was 
soon 'business as usual' at the front of the fleet, with  the three Lasers of Jane Anderson, Steve Axford and David Higgs showing the way.  As the leading boats approached the downwind mark at the end of the first lap, Jane Anderson and Steve Axford were neck and neck; David Higgs was also keeping well in touch in third place, with his attendance at a Laser training session in the winter perhaps paying off in his impressive boat speed.  Behind this trio, the RS200 was in fourth place, but the winds were not really strong enough to keep 
the asymmetric's big gennaker filling with sufficient effect to enable the boat to sail to its handicap rating.
 
As the race progressed, Jane Anderson started to pull away from the other Lasers and as she crossed the line at the end of the race, she had a comfortable 30 second cushion in front of Steve Axford in second and another minute in front of David Higgs.  Since Jane was racing with the smaller Laser Radial rig and her competitors in full rigs, her victory on handicap was even more assured.  John Savage's Solo was next to cross the line, but the two Toppers of John and Vicki Duncalf were just a few seconds faster on handicap.  Further back, Adeney 
Pooley guided the Graduate round to successfully complete the course on his first outing but slowed as the race progressed because he was taking in water and on coming ashore, the cause was found to be a split centreboard case; singularly bad luck which hopefully won't keep the boat off the water for too long.
 
Results: 

1st Jane Anderson (Laser Radial) 
2nd Steve Axford (Laser)  
3rd David Higgs (Laser) 
4th John Duncalf (Topper) 
5th Vicki Duncalf (Topper) 
6th John Savage (Solo) 
7th Liz Boyd and Bob Sampson (RS200) 
8th Derek Farnfield (Wanderer) 
9th Adeney Pooler (Graduate) 
Val Shillito (Otter) rtd
 
PM Pursuit Trophy 1
 
With the wind veering to give a gentle north-easterly breeze rippling the water, the first Pursuit race of the season started with Vicki Duncalf's Topper crossing the line promptly as first boat away.  Several of the Tamar sailors seemed a bit rusty on their Pursuit starts, however; both John Savage and Bob Sampson started a minute after they got the signal for the off. In contrast, Derek Farnfield was over-eager and was across the line too soon and had to double back in order not to be disqualified.  Eventually, all the fleet got away, with Jane Anderson the last off, her good results from last year's Pursuit giving a combined handicap that meant her starting a daunting 17 minutes after Vicki had started.  With a mid-fleet start, it was pleasing to see Emily Veal making the step up from Toppers for her first race outing in a Laser 4.7, in 
which she looked comfortable.  At the front of the front of the fleet, John Savage was starting to overhaul Vicki Duncalf, despite his late start and had caught and passed her as they ghosted downwind in front of the clubhouse nearing the end of the first lap.  Rounding the Dam mark, Vicki was pointing much higher on the beat back up the lake, but John kept the Solo's boatspeed up to gradually extend his lead at the front.  
 
With a long beat up to Far mark and an even longer broad reach back to the Dam mark, there were lots of opportunities for boats to show their paces on different points of sail.  Roger Ford had taken over at the helm of the Otter and closed up to have a tussle with Stephen Muller in the Topper, but in the gentle winds, Stephen's lighter weight made it difficult for Roger to 
press home the advantage and he fell back.   Nearer the front of the fleet, the RS overtook Steve Axford's Laser on the downwind section of the course, but again couldn't get clear and Steve soon regained the place.  As the minutes ticked down towards the end of the 65 minute race, John Savage had pulled out an unassailable lead and was an emphatic and popular winner.  Steve Axford had moved up through the fleet to take a hard-fought second place.  It looked as though the RS had captured the final podium place, but a momentary falter allowed Vicki Duncalf's Topper to catch a gust and re-take third just moments before the horn sounded.
 
Results: 

1st John Savage (Solo) 
2nd Steve Axford (Laser) 
3rd Vicki Duncalf (Topper) 
4th Bob Sampson and Liz Boyd (RS200) 
5th Jane Anderson (Laser) 
6th John Duncalf (Topper) 
7th David Higgs (Laser) 
8th Stephen Muller (Topper) 
9th Roger Ford (Otter) 
10th Derek Farnfield (Wanderer) 
11th Emily Veal (Laser 4.7)