WEDNESDAY EVENING
The Y Class season got off to a steady start with 3 boats coming to the line. The return of Pimpernel, after years of sulking in the boat sheds, was welcome and she defied the bar room expectations of a) not sinking and b) making it to the first mark. Puffin, as usual, romped away into the distance.Blandina and Pimpernel had a close fought race with Pimpernel prevailing.
SUNDAY SERIES 1 (1) – Sunday 4th May.
The sun shone on the righteous Y fleet and 4 boats came to play. Unhappily the wind was from the south and fickle, changing strength and direction all the while. The course was HE, F, 2, 4, line, 8, 2 with marks to starboard except the 1st time round 2. All the fleet were together at HE, with a long run over to F, and Puffin pulled away followed by Diatom, Pimpernel andBlandina. Rounding F all the boats tried to work up the mainland shore, lee-bowing the tide – except for Blandina who failed to round F so went for a cruise to Newtown. The course was shortened at 2 as the beat across the strong tide took ages. Puffin won and Pimpernel edged out Diatom by 2 seconds in an exciting finish.
XOD & YOD SEABIRD TROPHY - Monday 5th May.
The XOD and YOD fleets combined to race for the first pot of the season. The SE wind was happily stronger than the previous day, so the course was A, 1, B, 2, with all but 1 to starboard. The start saw Gleam lead off for the X’s withPuffin & Diatom in close pursuit. The spinnaker reach up the Island shore was tricky as with the wind coming off the land laid lots of traps for unsuspecting helms. Gleam and Diatom broke off into steadier wind and Puffin joined us on the journey to Hurst. Behind, Blandina and Spray were close racing. The beat back to 1 saw Gleam and Puffin rounding together and then have a luffing battle under spinnaker. Diatom kept well out of this and sailed directly for B, sneaking into the lead at the mark, getting water on the previous leaders.Gleam tacked off to clear her air, but Puffin and Diatom benefitted from the wind freeing off and pulled clear. Blandina and Spray followed behind and reeled in Gleam. Rounding 2, Puffin held on to win with Diatom second.Gleam hoisted her kite to take 3rd, with Blandina a creditable 4th, managing to hold off Spray.