The Autumn series begins

As if to remind us of the fact it was the first outing of the Autumn series it was overcast and noticeably cooler than previous weeks, we even had a little rainfall, (but thankfully that didn’t last too long) after all it was a Bank Holiday weekend.

Getting ready for racing

Ten boats made ready to sail with a good proportion of two person boats for a change. HW was forecast just before 11.00 so there was a hint of flood tide still present. The race team set a good size windward leeward course with the F2 wind coming from the SW. During the week the sea had carved and interesting feature in the beach in the form of a 25cm step from the beach to the shoreline.

R2-slowly approaching the windward mark

Race 1 – the first beat saw the fleet split between left and right side of the course, neither side appeared to hold any great advantage, the key was to stay on the right side of the shifty winds near the shore. The Spitfire of Ed and guest crew Alice, and Dave & John in their 400 opened up a small lead after lap one with Solution Richard and Phil & Lorna (400) heading the rest of the fleet.

After three laps Dave & John had opened up a good lead and took line honours, followed by Phil & Lorna.

R2- light, fluky conditions as the wind trying to decide which direction its going

Race 2- By this time the sky had cleared. The tide had just begun to turn. The wind was still a SW F2. As the fleet approached the windward mark the wind became fluky with patches of little wind. The combination of the fickle winds and tide ebb tide, which was now beginning to kick in, made the final 200m to the windward mark tricky. Dave & John rounded first just before the wind dropped further and in doing so opened up a good lead a fleet. Solution Richard mastered the conditions well to round second. Eventually a F3-4 from the SSE kicked in providing a reach to the leeward gate and planing conditions for most of the fleet.