AM: Cup Race 3

With some Sunday morning sunshine coming after Saturday's rain, a baker's dozen 
sailors made it out onto the lake for the midday race.  Facing a course set to use the 
second start line, further away from the watersports hut, some of the more mature sailors 
were struggling to see the flags and hear the horns for the start sequence, but nevertheless 
the whole fleet got away cleanly for the beat to the Dam buoy, with the exception of 
Stephen Muller who had rigging problems and sadly had to retire.  With the easterly wind 
swirling over the Dam wall, rounding the first buoy proved surprisingly taxing, but Paul 
and Jane Anderson both got away well in their Lasers and in the first few minutes had 
opened up an impressive gap between themselves and the rest of the fleet.  After a broad 
reach up the lake to Inlet, helms were faced with a succession of gybes as they rounded 
first the red Inlet buoy followed by a swift turn in the opposite direction round the 
headland, leaving some boats swaying and shimmying like unsuccessful celebrity dancers 
making a mess of the tango.  

Paul and Jane Anderson continued to increase their lead but, with the hillside shielding 
the wind on the long trek up the narrowing lake to Far buoy and back, the rest of the fleet 
closed up together noticeably. Then, as each boat in turn emerged out of the wind shadow 
on the reach to the West mark, they accelerated from almost stationary to near-planing 
speed like corks coming out of a bottle.  Behind Paul and Jane, the Lasers of David Higgs 
and Simon Veal were in close combat for third place, with Mike Ford and John Leveridge 
in the Wanderer in fifth ahead of Katie Leveridge in the Laser 4.7 as they ended the 
second lap.  In the occasional stronger gusts, two of Tamar's up-and-coming junior 
sailors, Emily Veal and Adam Pollard, were sometimes finding themselves too light to 
keep their boats flat but nevertheless battled on.  Another junior, Izzy Higgs, made her 
racing debut and crewed with some aplomb in the Otter.  By the end of the race, Jane 
Anderson had overtaken Paul to be first across the line by 16 seconds, and by virtue of 
sailing with a Radial as against Paul's full rig, was a very comfortable winner on 
handicap.  There was then a massive gap of over 8 minutes before the next boats took the 
hooter.  Unfortunately, for some helms there was uncertainty about the completion of the 
course, leading to quite a few boats coming into the pontoon thinking that they had 
finished, before being sent back out to round Dam buoy and cross the finish in the 
opposite direction.  In the confusion, several boats lost out badly, but despite this Vicki 
Duncalf held on to take third place on handicap in her Topper.

Results:  

1st Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
2nd Paul Anderson (Laser)
3rd Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
4th John Buckett and Izzy Higgs (Otter)
5th John Duncalf (Topper)
6th David Higgs (Laser)
7th Adam Pollard (Pico)
8th Simon Veal (Laser)
9th Emily Veal (Topper)
10th John Chandler (Bosun)
11th Katie Leveridge (Laser 4.7)
12th Mike Ford and John Leveridge (Wanderer) 
Stephen Muller dns

PM: Tamar Cup 3

There was a good close start for the afternoon race, with John Savage's Solo being 
christened by Paul Whybrow as 'test pilot' for its debut outing on Tamar Lake and 
getting away first.  Close behind were Paul and Jane Anderson in their respective Lasers.  
Before very long, Jane had taken over the lead, with the rest of the fleet in orderly 
procession behind her.  David Higgs was making progress through the ranks, however, 
and by the end of the first lap had moved up to second.  It was good to see the Enterprise 
of Alan Comber and John Weller out on the water for the first time this year and going 
well in mid-fleet.  After a slower initial circuit, the Wanderer of Mike Ford and John 
Leveridge began to make up places, overtaking both the Solo and the Enterprise.  On the 
second lap, Paul Anderson overtook David Higgs to make it an Anderson one-two on the 
water.  Also going well at this point were Emily Veal in her Topper and Adam Pollard in 
the Pico, with Emily easing ahead of Adam.

Once again, Jane Anderson moved clear of the competition to finish over two minutes 
ahead of Paul and reprised the morning's race result to notch up another comfortable first 
and second respectively.  In his first full season of Laser racing, David Higgs posted an 
excellent result to finish third, with Paul Whybrow bringing the Solo in to fourth on 
handicap, just holding off Mike Ford's Wanderer by ten seconds.  Unfortunately, the 
wind began to drop away on the final lap, making it a long race for the slower class boats; 
John Chandler's Bosun lost places on the water during the last circuit, but still finished a 
creditable sixth, with Katie Leveridge also showing a much improved result just behind 
him.

Results: 

1st Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
2nd Paul Anderson (Laser)
3rd David Higgs (Laser)
4th Paul Whybrow (Solo)
5th Mike Ford and John Leveridge (Wanderer)
6th John Chandler (Bosun)
7th Katie Leveridge (Laser 4.7)
8th Simon Veal (Laser)
9th Alan Comber and John Weller (Enterprise)
10th Derek Farnfield (Wanderer)
11th Adam Pollard (Pico)
12th Emily Veal (Topper)