Midweek Mug 11
At last! A warm, dry, light breeze coming from the southeast. All but one of the helms opted for a starboard tack start in the optimistic hope that they could round Dam Green buoy in a single tack by starting as close to the end of the pontoon as possible. None was successful, all needing two tacks. Sue was first across the start line and, with more foresight, started on port tack crossing the start line close to Home 1 buoy and, with only a single tack, was first to round Dam Green.
Dave managed to get past Sue on the run to Inlet via Zebra, and that established the on-the-water order for the remainder of the four laps: Dave (Solo), Sue (Laser 4.7), John & Leila (Bosun), Geoff (Solo) and Colin & Louise (Bosun).
For most of the first three laps, Geoff was always in contention with John, but never managed to get past him. During the race, the wind had been steadily increasing to a really useful breeze. Then on the third lap as he gybed around West heading for Pinky, Geoff capsized. He quickly recovered without getting wet himself, but his boat was swamped. By the time he had got himself organised and his Solo substantially baled, he had put himself out of reach of John’s Bosun.
Applying the boats’ respective handicaps after an hour’s racing, Sue took the race honours with only just over a minute separating the first three boats.
Results:
- Sue Murray (Laser 4.7)
- John Dabbs and Leila Farmer (Bosun)
- David Perrett (Solo)
- Geoff Floyd (Solo)
- Colin & Louise Witchell (Bosun)
OOD: Ian Chatterton