2000 Crewsaver Millennium Series Round 6 at Castle Cove Sailing Club

2000 Crewsaver Millennium Series at Castle Cove © Nick Griffin

2000 Crewsaver Millennium Series at Castle Cove © Nick Griffin

A welcoming club, a lovely location and 19 eager 2000 crews ready for the gun but was the weather going to play ball? Well it was certainly bright and sunny, after the early morning mist cleared but not a weekend for those who like it strong! The wind varied between light and very light. But at least it was steady with very few holes. And no tide to stop us.

Race 1, and an excellent RO set a good long line, allowing Lee and Max to sail off the port end into the lead, but the right hand side of the beat paid slightly better leading to a crowded first mark. James and Jenny mistimed their final tack, and had to do turns but that just fired then up, and they drifted quickly downwind into 2nd place. Amy Hulley and John Dasey from Weir Wood took 3rd place.

The second race again gave benefit to the right side of the beat, but the wind dropped to around 2 knots for the run - allowing those who dropped their kites to make ground. The race was shortened to just one lap, but that still took 45 minutes to complete. Lee and Max again crossed the finish line in first place and local sailor Chris Brann and his son Tom finished second.

Surely the RO would send us home?

No. A third race was started, this time with one boat over the line. Chris and Gill circled around the Committee Boat and tacked off to the right - the only race where the left paid! The wind filled in from the left, allowing Chris and Tom to take the lead, closely chased by Helen and Andrew Phillips.

At the finish, however Chris and Gill tacked around the leeward mark and squeezed into 2nd, with Lee in 4th.

Day 2 was pretty much a repeat of day 1 with the wind remaining obstinately light. This time though it shifted round to the south across the 3 races which caused the race team to do some very nifty shifting of the windward mark. The lightweight crews continued to dominate and both beats and runs demanded huge concentration. The racing was close throughout the fleet and all places hotly contested. Some imaginative and slightly extreme crew positioning was utilised to improve boat trim. Race 6 saw the only general recall of the event as boats piled up around the committee boat in response to a sudden wind shift. The next (black flag) start was clean and a good race sailed. The finishing order of the final race mostly reflected the overall event placings and after that it was showers, boats, soup, cake and prizes in that order.

Many thanks to the team at Castle Cove for running an enjoyable meeting. I am sure the Nationals to be held at Weymouth in 2016 will be a great event!

2000 Crewsaver Millennium Series at Castle Cove - photo © Nick Griffin

Many thanks to our sponsors Crewsaver for their support of the series. The final event in the series is on October 18th/19th at Rutland SC.

Overall Results: