Lymington XOD fleet Wednesday Series Race 19
by Roy Froud 7 Sep 2015 14:04 BST
2 September 2015
Lucrezia wins race 19 of the Lymington XOD Wednesday Series © RLymYC
Light winds and strong tides greeted fifteen boats and crews last Wednesday afternoon and these conditions were to provide for lots of overtaking opportunities.
The ebbing tide and Westerly wind direction allowed the race officer Steve Green and team to set first beat to + mark to the West of Oxey Lake. With the strong ebb tide pushing the fleet up to the line a couple of boats were initially over the line and had to duck back, with one failing to do so and scored OCS.
Those boats at the outer end of the line gained from the favourable tide further offshore, despite the line being biased at the platform end, with X140 Lucrezia, helmed by Ado Jardine and XN1 Xonoan, helmed by Paul Fisher, reading the first mark ahead. On the long run against the tide to mark G to the East of Pylewell Lake, the feel split into those deciding to take an inshore route out of the tide, led by Lucrezia, and those taking a direct route led by X48 XL, helmed by Rory Paton. The direct route initially looked very good, with a stronger breeze than inshore, but when the breeze dropped towards the end of the run those inshore gained.
The beat back to + mark saw a shifting wind and this provided more overtaking opportunities. On the last run the skippers and crews had once again to decide whether to go inshore out of the tide or sail the direct route. The breeze appeared to be fading and this encouraged some to take the inshore route but, as was seen by X92 Persephone's daring dash from the back of the fleet to second place at the leeward mark, there was enough breeze to make the direct, offshore, route pay. X42 Julia, with Stephen & Rosemary Whiteman and their two granddaughters on board also made huge gains on this run taking them up to fourth place and proving that XODs make great family boats!
There was still some place changing on the last beat and the leg to the finish with the top 5 places being:
1st X140 Lucrezia - Ado Jardine
2nd X92 Persephone - Richard Field
3rd X48 XL - Rory Paton
4th X42 Julia - Stephen & Rosemary Whiteman & Grandaughters
5th X161 Mayday - David da Cunha
Full results can be found here.