Carmel wins the Centripump Cup and Jason leads the series

Sunday morning was overcast and light winds had replaced the 40 mph gusts from Saturday night. The tide had turned and was heading out. There were hardly any waves as the 6 sailors took to water watched closely by Lawrence and Tony from the RIB.

In the first race Steve took advantage of the start to lead Jason and Carmel in a radial at the first mark. Trevor , Pete and Oshi trailed behind as the fleet headed towards the Barry pin the final leg of the race was against a pretty fast tide causing quite a tough beat for everyone. Oshi had to retire the Comet due to equipment failure.

Steve pulled away on the second lap to take the race win from Jason and Carmel was the first of the slow fleet and so took the Centripump cup.

Carmel had a great start to the second race and led Steve and Jason at the first mark. Unfortunately, her main sheet became tangled after the Hine and she capsized allowing Steve and Jason to go past. Trevor launched his spin and then capsized. He managed to recover most of the ground lost to Pete on the water before the race was halted just after Jason had crossed the line ahead of Steve.

Results

The forecast was for increasing wind so six Laser Radials (including our one visitor – Charlie Felgate from CBYC) and one Topaz lined up for the first race in a force 4 south-easterly. Jason hit the line right on time but Steve, pointing higher, managed to sail over him to reach the first mark first, closely followed by Jason and the other Radials. Jason surged past on the run (described as a broad reach by some) and was first to complete the lap.

The same thing happened the next lap, but with Andrew pushing hard and tacking off, it was very close at the end of the beat. Jason surged past again and with the wind building to force 5 and the waves getting exciting something happened to Andrew letting Charlie into 3rd place. Steve managed to get far enough ahead of Jason to not be caught on the run and by the fourth lap, as the winds gusted to force 6, he was in his element. Jason held on in second with Charlie and Andrew fighting for 3rd place. On the final run Andrew attempted a late charge and tried to get an inside line on the mark, but it was not to be. He capsized and allowed Charlie a clear run to the finish. Robin, Andy and Karl succumbed to too many capsizes and retired.

The second race was started but soon abandoned to allow competitors and the Patrol Boat to get ashore before conditions worsened. Unfortunately the by now torrential rain had soaked off the barbecue and the whole event came to a soggy conclusion.

Many thanks to the wonderful safety and shore party who thankfully got everyone ashore in one piece in pretty atrocious conditions.

Results