Light winds and grey skies were the order of the day at Gorleston, but at least it had stopped raining by the time we arrived at the club! 10 boats launched onto a very flat sea, the westerly F1-2 breeze meant a long beat towards the cliffs, but considering the direction it remained relatively stable.
David Brief sailing a Shadow was an early leader in race one but encountered a technical problem resulting in a retirement. The D-One of Chris Sallis then took the lead and held on to the finish, winning by a minute over the 400’s of Richard Fryer & Oliver Hunt and Richard Brown & Robyn Ollington.
Race two saw a three way battle at the front between Phil Highfield in his 700, David(Shadow) and Chris (D-One). These three built up good lead on the pursuing pack with only a few seconds between them. David won the line honours but Chris won on corrected time. The 400’s of Richard & Oliver and Richard & Robyn keep close enough to the leaders to claim second and third.
In the final race of the day Phil(700) had built a sizable lead after the first lap and was looking good for a race win however, the wind had other ideas! On what was to be the final downwind leg there were some winners and losers as the wind initially dropped. Phil(700) held onto his lead but the rest of the fleet slowly caught up. Richard & Robyn successfully located the calmest patch on the water costing them a good finish. Nick Favell (D-One) and Keith & Anna (500) had been a little way back but a late charge to the finish when they managed to catch good pressure as the wind began to turn rapidly catching the leading pack. Chris(D-One) claimed first place, Nick(D-One) second, and Richard & Oliver third.
Results are on the GYGSC site – Spring Series 2018 Results
Report kindly provided by Dave Houghton