As afternoon progressed on Wednesday, I rapidly lost enthusiasm for the sail as the rains came down and the wind dropped and the tide poured out at a massive rate. So from sandals and T'shirts to boots and warm wet gear- first time this year, we set off down the harbour or rather tore down the harbour to Dolphin. David on X51 sailed down alone while Roger moored the rescue boat near Dolphin and jumped aboard to make up another boat. We all sat in the tide drifting down to the start. X160 was in the lead all the way up the channel on the right hand bank, looking back at the rest in the distance behind us. It felt like being Roger on X50 - that is until we had to cross the tide to Deep End and stopped while they all carried on! No time for spinnakers to Itchenor- so from first to almost last, Well its good to see what winning might feel like! Roger then jumped back onto the ferry to tow the stragglers home. We were 5 boats which made for an extremely sociable table over dinner. X51 won, followed by X55 and X101.
Next WER racing will start at 5.45 for the penultimate race.
Its quite simple guys, don't run aground if you want to win - which several did on Saturday morning, some more than once, mostly all in the same places, so well done to X181, X65 and X132.
Saturday afternoon was Haines Pursuit race and Barts Bash. Well, bash is the right word as unfortunately two X boats collided on the start line. In future the wearing of wet gear to Dunes is essential- lesson learned the wet way! Its the first time I'd done either of these races and I assumed it would be mayhem. It wasn't, it was fun with plenty of clear air, (being ahead does help with this). X80 sped ahead at the start followed by X181 and X186, who took opposite sides of the harbour going to Dunes giving X186 a massive advantage, unfortunately a Swallow got passed us before Dunes and went on to pass X80 to win just 10 minutes before the 100 minutes. So X80 won the X pursuit race, with X186 second and X181 third. If you want to see where you came in the race, its on the club results page.
Great PRO today, thanks Roger Yeoman!
This week two races on Saturday and B2B on Sunday. As always if you want a crew or need a helm, PLEASE reply to the email.
See you on the water, in Merlin