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

Jason won the Pursuit Race. He also won the series, but no one else qualified.

He would have won anyway, but with so many races (including the 31st August) being cancelled due to high wind or waves the series was washed out for many.

Results

Trevor in a Taz wins the Tip Top T Trophy after shock retirement by race leader Robin!

Tip top T Trophy race

Robin was first round the Windwood Mark closely followed by Andrew and Chris in their lasers, closely followed by Lawrence in the Comet. Helen and Rex touselled to get round the windward Mark neck and neck in a Byte and mirror respectively. Next was Trevor, slightly ahead of Danny and Chris.

Andrew, Rex and Helen put in an early tack after lap one which paid off for Andrew who pulled ahead. Lawrence and Chris closed the gap on Robin for some close racing upwind. Next Helen followed working to keep her boat flat in the breeze starting to build. Next to head for the line the Taz, Mirror and Danny’s Topaz with Andrew starting to catch up with the tail end of the fleet.

Next Robin and Chris in Topaz style raced or guided each other throughout the next lap. A slight change in wind direction resulted in a few people missing the windward mark and having to put an extra tack in.

The race ended shortly afterwards with Helen and Lawrence taking line honours and having decided Sully Launch crew hadn’t had enough to do, Helen capsized and requested Marc jump in to right her boat, scooping her up into it.

Race 2

Two boats retired and a slight course adjustment and race 2 began. Andrew and Chris B had the best starts and zoomed off with Robin, Chris and Danny in the Topaz’s all following behind. Trev and Danny raced and swapped at times up to the first mark but for the most part boats didn’t manage to change position much. Robin worked hard to keep up with Chris B in his laser but Chris had an edge downwind. Lawrence followed these two, and then the Tip Top Trophy competitors finished the fleet.

Results

Steve won the Sharpe Trophy in very windy conditions (F6-7 at Nells Point!). Danny, Jason and Trevor valiantly fought the conditions and Jason recorded a record lap time in Race 2.

Results

Nigel’s decree for Race direction was Port roundings and the start direction to be decided on the water prior to start sequence!

Race 1 the sequence was started but with the whole fleet going backwards OCS this was abandoned and some time taken to await more wind to fill in. Rex retired and 3 boats walked their boats along the shore due to lack of wind and tide taking us toward the public slip.

“Race 2” was a windward leeward course et in the opposite direction just a a gentle breeze started to fill in. It was deceptive at times though with some gusts being nearly 180° off the prevailing wind. Initially Jason managed to maintain a consistent movement across the water, closely followed by Robin. The “downwind” leg at times switched to close hauling leaving poor Trevor stuck without any consistent spinnaker legs to catch up and fighting the bulk of the tide.

Carmel then had a sneaky big catch up on the other two lasers, catching the breeze downwind first, but Jason having hugged the shore to pick up the back eddy just rounded the downwind mark and raced off in the new breeze to the finish line as Carmel and Robin rounded the mark at the same time and raced neck and neck to the finish, Robin just pulling ahead to finish With 7 seconds between Robin and Carmel and much close racing on the water, it was all about the tactics- to take on the tide and use more wind, or risk keeping in shore to avoid the worst of the tide and risk the wind dropping off completely.

Results

Robin Wilkinson wins the Gusty Trophy in the Club Cat. The first time it hasn’t gone to Andrew Evans since 2012!

No takers for the Tip Top T, unfortunately.

Results

Very good turnout today everyone – I wonder if the glorious conditions had anything to do with it. 11 boats started racing and three other were on the water too.

Thanks to all the volunteers and members for helping out on the novice evenings and today.

Lots of photos in the photo group.

Congratulations to today’s winners:

Novices – 1st Ethel, 2nd Andrew and 3rd Danny

Youth – 1st Emrys, 2nd Paolo, 3rd Dylan & Maila.

Thanks to Aztec Sails for their generous prizes.

Lovely food courtesy of Andy Fung and Jean Parr.

A good day had by all I hope.

Results

Race 1
Gary had the best start, close to the shore, with neil and me tussling towards the Island upwind of Gary. The cats were sailing towards the far side of the island before jybing in to chute the channel ahead of us two lasers, Jason chasing close behind stealing our wind. Neil pushed me up until he had to give a bit of room along the Island, but he wasn’t giving much, resulting in all 4 of us single hulls falling foul of the shadow as we rounded the island- Gary suffering first so Neil and I caught up & joined him going nowhere while Jason caught up and managed to carry a bit of speed to catch up to Gary. Trevor was dead in the water too despite flying his spinnaker but struggling to locate the wind direction.
Neil caught the wind first but was neck and neck with Gary, until choosing to tack and head upwind along the far side of the island. Here Gary went quite wide, Neil a good bit closer inland of the island, Jason in between and closing in on them both, me following by this point, with waves battering my progress. The Catamarans had taken much wider courses and so started to now pull ahead towards the line. Neil headed a straighter course towards the club, but it was Gary and Jason that had a right tussle to keep up- with all three crossing the line in close succession. I followed with a wind shift now aiding me to catch them up. A little distance but not too far behind me was Trev in the Vago, who had also got stuck in the islands wind shadow and turned around a bit, but unfortunately (for me) a brief swim in the choppy water the far side of the island left he and Corrado to bring up the tail. Corrado probably too the best line of everyone missing the wind shadow but not sure what happened towards the island rounding, as he then took some time to cross the line. The other cat (Sam) hadn’t been able to get back on the water with a repair until we were headed for the single lap finish so enjoyed some epic reaches towards the channel near the far side of the island and back to the club while waiting for us.

Results

The barest minimum of two brave souls set forth in race 1. Steve opting for caution with a Radial sail and Neil in a standard rig. Thanks to a late sounding of the 1 minute warning neither boat troubled the OOD for any recalls.

Nip and tuck to the first mark, but Neil misjudged the tide and needed an extra tack. Despite Neil making up some ground downwind, Steve completed the lap in the lead on the water. On lap 2 Neil made more inroads on Steve’s lead, catching up at the gybe mark, before taking a rest while Steve extended his lead.

Lap 3 saw Neil pushing hard to catch up. Too hard!. Capsize!! By the time he had righted the boat (twice), fallen out and finally made the windward mark, Steve was gybing again. Three capsizes for Neil on the next downwind leg put the result in no doubt, unless Steve were to break something. But no breakage occurred to save Neil.

Race 2 was largely a repeat of race 1, with the downwind leg again proving to be Neil’s bane.

Results