Inland the temperature was approaching 30 degrees but at Gorleston it was a more typical for the year, 19. However, the sun was out and a warm F3 from the south greeted the early birds arriving at the club for the start of the Thursday evening series.
Phil A was contemplating as to whether to rig his usual vessel of choice but was persuaded to opt for a club Laser instead. Having persuaded Phil in this direction Dave felt duty bound to do so as well, so both club Lasers would be racing.
Picture-Let the sailing begin
By the time race one was underway the wind had dropped to a F2. The ebb tide was still just present with LW around 19.00. Laser Phil was just a bit too eager at the start and found himself the wrong side of the line, and quite a bit over the line it has to be said ! Phantom Phil led the fleet up the beat rounding the mark just ahead of Adam, swapping his manageable Streaker for his less manageable RS700.
Picture- Start 1
Laser Chris managed one lap before his traveller fairlead broke, forcing an early return to shore. On the second beat Laser Kyle overtook both Adam and Laser Dave. Phantom Phil stretched out his lead crossing the line a minute and a half ahead of Kyle.
Picture-heading upwind
The F2 wind just about stayed with us for race two. Laser Dave lead the fleet up the beat and was just ahead of Phantom Phil after lap one. Up the second beat Phil judged the line to the mark perfectly, overtaking Dave in doing so and remained ahead to the finish. Dave crossed in second place although Kyle had closed the gap slightly on the final lap. Vareo Adrian found the fast mode on the final lap putting in the quickest lap of the race.
Picture-Start 2
On corrected time, Kyle took race one with Dave just edging out Phil for second place. The first two positions were reversed in race two with Adrian third, one second ahead of Phil.
Thanks to Richard and Ed, our race team for the evening. And a big thanks to Hugh, who kindly offered his invaluable assistance in pulling the rescue boat back up the beach ….. in the form of his quad bike..
Full results are on the club web site