It’s fair to say that there was some concern regarding the forecast midweek as all forecasting sites were predicting strong winds and big seas from midday Sunday. Thankfully the forecast on Saturday suggested the winds would be arriving a bit later so a punctual start would be the order of the day.
Lovely start to the day
Given it’s mid September we could not have asked for a better start to the day, sunny, F1-2 from the SSW and a flat sea, although a bit cooler than last week. It was a rather usual day in as much as nine boats made ready to sail, each representing a different class.
With everyone focussed on starting promptly we were soon on the water and racing. HW was at 14.30 so the tide would be flooding all race time making for ‘shorter’ beats and ‘longer’ off wind legs, a nice day for the three asymmetric classes sailing.
Heading to the windward mark
The Spitfire and RS700 managed four laps in race one with all the others finishing after three. Vareo Richard had kept Phantom Nick in his sights all race and were some way in front of the main pack. However, Minisail Carl was lurking near the front of that pack, taking the race win by just eight seconds.
Race two, the wind had increased to a F2-3 and shifted to the SW, requiring a quick shift of the windward mark by the Safety team. The Spitfire and RS700 again distanced themselves from the rest of the fleet and again completing an extra lap. Carl kept in the mix to win the race. The next places were close with Europe Steve getting second.
And back to the leeward gate
For the final race it was overcast, the wind had picked up and the sea state a little more ‘wavy’. Carl again proved an old wooden boat can still cut it and made it a clean sweep. Again it was close for the next places with less than thirty seconds separating the next five boats with Steve just grabbing another second place.
Team ‘Ed’ flying downwind
Despite the temperature gauge on the starting clock showing 20.3 degrees it felt much cooler, so most were grateful for a hot meal from Chef Brown’s meaty pie selection. Luckily the so called strong winds didn’t materialise until we had finished packing up and heading home.
Full results on the club website http:http://www.gygsc.org.uk/Results/2025/2025Autumn.htm
More photos on the club Flickr site
Congratulations to Carl for a clean sweep.