Andy’s forecast was partially right. We had glorious sunshine, at least initially, but the light breeze was replaced by a force 4-5 westerly which made things tricky for some.
In the first race Steve and Danny were close up the beat until Steve’s extra weight allowed him to pull ahead. Danny surged back on the run and was just behind at mark 2 but his traveller block kinked and jammed on the gybe allowing Steve to get away enough to stay away for first place. Behind, all sorts of things were happening. Jake and Teilo in Teilo’s new Topaz Race X were fast upwind but short spinnaker sheets prevented them from flying the spinnaker downwind (well that was their story!).
On lap three Pete somehow passed Robin on the beat to the first mark. Although Robin came back on the run he couldn’t quite get an overlap before Pete shut the door at the gybe mark in a move reminiscent of Max Verstappen. Unlike Max he was still trying to gather in his main sheet once round the mark which left Robin, who had much better cornering speed, nowhere to go and there was (allegedly) contact between bow and rudder.
Having been brake checked, things went from bad to worse for Robin as he capsized a lap later he finished 5th, behind Teilo in 3rd and Pete 4th.
In second race, Pete obviously felt bad for Robin so decided to give him a head start by wrapping his tiller extension in the mainsheet and capsizing seconds before the start. Although Pete managed to overhaul Jake and Teilo, Robin stubbornly refused to repeat his capsize and stayed ahead to finish 3rd with Teilo in 4th and Pete 5th. Lawrence’s dogged determination earned him a sixth place
Things are going Steve’s way in the series but it’s much too early to call and anything could happen.
Finally thanks to Jean and Neil who helped with our trolleys in their dry clothes, as we were short of a slipway volunteer, and got wet feet. Your dedication saved our day.