Solo Open at Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club

Solos at Leigh-on-Sea © Carole Charles

Solos at Leigh-on-Sea © Carole Charles

Solos at Leigh-on-Sea © Carole Charles

A fleet of 27 Solos, 13 visitors and 14 local boats were greeted by the usual Leigh on sea mud flats and lots of sunshine. As the tide rapidly covered the mud flats the wind filled in from the east to a steady 12 knots. The RNLI provided some pre-race entertainment with their hovercraft making sure that some day trippers got back to the shore safely after venturing too far over the mud flats.

When the racing started Steve Ede quickly made his way to the front while Mathew Foary managed to keep in front of Tim Lewis after a keenly contested start.

Race 2 started with two boats over the line early, one returned but the other Mathew Foary did not and after leading for three rounds was greeted by that horrible silence. Tim Lewis who had been following Mathew heard the first race winning hoot as he crossed the line to take the win.

The tide had turned before the start of race 3, pushing a large part of the fleet across the line about 15 seconds too early, the race team had no option other than to call a general recall. The second start under the code flag I saw the fleet better behaved, Mathew Foary take the lead with Steve Ede chasing very hard in second place.

After two rounds the race team ended the race so that boats could be back ashore before the tide went out. Overall Mathew took the overall first place as he had the best position in the last race.

Overall Results: