A beautiful sunny day, with a light southwesterly wind and a huge course, and 17 competitors. Perfect for a pursuit race. Steve and Jean in Jean’s Mirror set off first and were quickly overhauled by Rex (Mirror) and Nigel (Topper), then after a disastrous tactic to beat the tide turned a reach into a beat, by most of the rest of the fleet. It didn’t take Danny in his Laser long to slice through the field, but Nigel held out for nearly an hour until passed by Danny, followed by Neil (Laser).
The wind increased for the second race and Steve made a quick switch to a Topaz, so quick that he sat out, missed the toestraps and fell in, snapping the tiller extension. The Topaz was incredibly quick with a piece of string attached to the tiller and he was up with the Lasers at the first mark. Pete in his large yellow cat got in the mix, holding up Danny before finally sailing away, followed by Danny and Neil – as Steve did a neat 360 when the rudder came up (how do Topaz sailors cope with that rudder?). Steve however held on for the win on handicap, with Danny and Neil in second and third. Positions behind were incredibly close with 4 boats finishing within 11 seconds on handicap in places 5 to 8. Pete finished last, nearly 10 minutes back on a handicap which is now under review.