Moore Blatch & Station Financial Lymington Thursday Night Series - Day 6
by Robin Taunt 14 Jun 2016 10:12 BST
9 June 2016
It was a frustrating Summer Evening for Royal Lymington Keelboats on 9 June. The wind had been fickle all day, but there was enough breeze for the 80 boats competing last Thursday to make a start. With over 300 keen sailors poised to enjoy the beautiful evening, setting a course was the race team's first challenge.
Leading that team, Jane Pitt-Pitts cannily opted for an unusual downwind start to the east, so competitors could claw up-tide before the remains of the south westerly sea breeze died away. It then became a race against time and tide as each boat found its own route to the first mark.
The faster IRC boats were first away and successfully rounded the up-tide mark. They then gently raced up wind, with tide, and all bar one recorded a finish. Boomerang (Ray Crouch and Paul Baker) led the fleet home in just over an hour, winning on handicap.
The J/80 fleet had started 5 minutes later and seven of the eleven starters made it round the course, with Andrew Hurst's Fiducial prevailing in a close race.
Next off were the faster Club handicap boats in class LAH 1. Your correspondent can report on events on the J/109 JIBE. It was quite a lottery, with a narrow band of wind just off the shore. Further inshore and out of the tide did not pay; further offshore the tide dominated. We made it to the up-tide mark to find a couple of stationary boats blocking the buoy, so had to gybe again and again to struggle round the long way, losing valuable minutes in the process.
Setting off for the down-tide mark, good progress was made, although by then the sailing instructions were being examined to determine the time limit: 8.30 pm. No trouble chaps; plenty of time, and no one else had made it around the mark. So we drifted along admiring a stunning sunset, with the crew wishing the skipper had provided some beer. Ghosting past the Starting Platform, we were honoured by a visit from the race team, anxious to know our intentions. Why, "to finish of course and collect our winner's prize".
A closer look at the tide tables would have shown the futility of this intention. Sure enough, the tide changed when we were 50 metres from the finish, pushing us backwards as the time limit expired. So no points, not even for persistence.
The smaller handicap fleets were equally unlucky. Happily, the XODs completed a race, much to the delight of Xoanon. The Folkboats also made it, although the last Folkboat took twice as long as the winning 'Jen' sailed by John Cooper.