A glorious blue sky and big outgoing tide greeted the 14 boats who contested the three shortcourse (ish) races on Sunday the 5th of February.
We had 5 Corsairs, 5 Lasers, 2 Impulses, a Pacer and a visiting NS14 who all attempted to be like King Canute and turn back the tide.
The start was downriver nearer to the heads than usual, with a directive from Race Office Craig Foley to not go inside the area of moored keelboats before working across the shallows to the upwind mark and then a quick tide-assisted run back to the start and another work to the finish buoy which was tantalisingly placed well into the tide to test the tactical sailing of the skippers. Most found out through the course of the races that a big tack to the west way past the finish buoy was the best way to ride the tide across the river and then wheel around the finish.
The first race saw everyone a bit late to the line due to the pressure of the tide, with the lasers of Kate and Lex, and the Impulses of Dave and Adam making good early progress. Close tactical battles between the fleet of corsairs ensued, along with Adam (Impulse), Gerry (Laser) and Robert (NS14) fighting it out for the lead. The bulk of the lasers were using smaller 4.7 sails and fought their own battles throughout the races.
The second start saw some of the singlehanders lurking at the pin end of the line while the bulk of the corsairs all came in at speed around the start boat and attempted to get above the line before tacking onto port. Adam was seen trying a daredevil entry to the line on port before seeing the foolhardiness of such a move with the fleet bearing down on him on starboard. Lex had a slight encounter with Guy in his corsair Squirtle on the upwind leg before beaching his laser to effect running repairs on his outhaul. The corsairs all set spinnakers for a colourful run back down the course before the second upwind leg.
The third start saw many more boats up on the line which had been rejigged to get it somewhat squarer to the wind, but still probably still too short for the number of boats. So many boats on the line saw some confusion and traffic jams at the pin end of the line while Adam (Impulse) and Justin (corsair) showed their experience by starting around the start boat and getting a clear starboard tack while the traffic jam was being unjammed.
Final results saw Robert in his NS14, Gerry in his fullrig Laser and Adam in his Impulse take the top 3 places on scratch times, but with Adam taking home the chocolates with 2 1sts and a 2nd on yardstick while Gerry had a 1st and two 3rds.
Championship racing will be on the 19th of February with many boats making the trek to Harwood for their annual regatta the next week.
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”28″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″]Words by Peter Fell