HRSC Wednesday A Race 3

Published 12:10 on 25 May 2018

Wednesday A Series Race 3

This was an extraordinary race in many ways, starting and ending with reaching legs plus up and down windward/ leeward sausages of three or four loops for the entire fleet round the same buoys, Rigit UK and Cutter.With ominous dark clouds to the north-east, the breeze of 10-14 knots veered 25 degrees during the race providing some tactical choices on the beats, and the early ebb tide running at Cutter adding a test of layline judgement at the windward mark. Luckily for all concerned it appears to have been a private breeze for HRSC with Bramblemet and Cambermet recording fluctuating pressure from various directions.

The evening turned out to be a small boat bonanza with M'enfin?! (Corby 25) slipping away in Class 1 to a two-minute+ win from Waywoh (Etchells 22) with Midnight Cowboy (Cork 1720) in third place. In Class 2 Polly (Impala 28) moved further ahead in the series with a two-minute win over the lower rated Uproar with Mist (Nicholson 33) finding form to split the Impala group. In class 3 Starfall (Tomohawk 25) made the best start close to the committee boat but is was the freshly launched Cockleshell (1926 one-off dayboat) that held off the series leader Fritha (Nordic Folkboat) by just 30 seconds on corrected time. In the XODs confusion reigned as Fantasy lead the pack into a fourth lap (three laps had been set by Race Officer Kathy Smalley) allowing Pepper to charge for home and their first win of the series.

In a busy clubhouse afterwards Commodore Steph Merry announced that Saturday afternoon racing to the same format as Wednesday evenings will begin on 9th June with a first warning signal at 1400 to allow time for morning shopping! The Saturday races for XOD and Club Handicap classes will be up to 2 hours duration. Paul Howard has volunteered to be the race officer and if the generous applause is any indication we should look forward to a good turnout.

Report by Jonty Sherwiil

Last updated 13:16 on 16 April 2024