The day dawned bright and clear and with no sign of the usual Miracle visitors, 12 boats lined up to the start of the first race, including newcomer from CBYC, Charlie with a Supernova and Roy also from CBYC joining Jean in his West 11.
A medium sized Trapezoid course was set by race officers Bob and Rex, who placed the windward mark a good way inside the Barry Pin.
1st Race
The first start was a general recall, as several boats were over, with some confusion as to who this was. A second start saw the Supernova leading the charge upwind and then for the majority of race one, with laser sailors Danny and Jason in hot pursuit.
Danny C. in the Topaz Uno+ had a fantastic start and was looking very competitive throughout, keeping Carmel in the Radial behind him for the first upwind leg. Carmel had a troublesome start being too early to the line but struggled to back away through the fleet of boats at the start.
Danny C lost a bit of momentum towards the end as the fast fleet started catching up with him but finished in a respectable 6th on corrected time and Jean with new crew Roy who were sailing the Mirror would have been 11th but were called DNF in order to start race two.
Charlie in the Supernova managed to hold everyone off until the lasers caught up as the wind dropped off towards the last mark rounding, and everyone grappled for a finish against a tidal eddy, with El Commodore Danny taking the ribbon, followed by Jason and Charlie third. Robin kept ahead of Carmel to take 4th place in race one, Danny C 6th, Pietro in the Topper 7th, Steve 8th in the 29er lapping Trevor who was 9th in his Vago, but pleased to have flown his spinnaker for the first time and kept the boat upright!
2nd Race
Second race Neil and Corrado joined in the fun. Neil was not quite warmed up as he was second tier at the start along with Steve. Carmel just behind touched the pin end and took a penalty turn. It wasn’t Carmel’s race, as during lap 2 a role tack near the top mark went a bit awry, allowing Chris Bartho through whose steady racing and keeping the pointy end upright paid off.
3rd Race
The 3rd race saw some… interesting starts, with a Port hand for most boats in the fleet. Neil and Robin got away cleanly with Charlie. Danny was away clear at the pin end of the line, just above and ahead of both Steve and Jason who was just behind. Carmel followed tacking onto starboard narrowly making it through the line before rolling back onto port to follow the shoreline with Steve and Jason.
Jason blitzed Charlie and Danny on the second beat, by staying inshore with Steve. Both gained some good wind and used shifts in their favour to leap past the other lasers.
Jason finished in first place, well ahead of Charlie who finished fourth. Carmel from the slow fleet third and Danny who this time came in second.
In the slow fleet Pietro’s Topper sailing saw him come in second, beating dad Corrado by just two minutes! Two minutes later the second Radial came through sailed by Chris.
The next three places were hotly contested on the water by Trevor (11th), Danny C. (12th) and Roy (13th) sailing with Jean in the West 11, but all three managed to hold their positions for a near photo-finish finale to the final race of the day.
Congratulations to Danny Powell who wins the Regatta Trophy for the second year running (and for the 5th year overall).