XOD Wednesday Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 19
by Roy Froud 13 Sep 2016 10:41 BST
7 September 2016
Twenty XODs set out to race in glorious sunshine and with a SE breeze Race Officer John Whyte set a course with a long beat to mark Zwerver which is just to the west of the Sowley Boom.
The tactical dilemma for all the crews was to weigh up the pros and cons across this long beat. The tide had already turned to the ebb inshore and yet the breeze appeared stronger there. The tide was predicted to keep flooding for 30 minutes or so offshore but the wind appeared lighter and dying and once the tide offshore also turned to the ebb boats offshore could get swept backwards! What to do!
In the event most boats favoured the offshore route with X48 XL, Rory Paton, X117 X-Ray, Robin Balme, X57 Red Coral, Roy Froud & X192 Persephone, Richard Field at the head of this pack that looked to have the initial lead. Boats that took the inshore route initially lost out due to the unfavourable tide. However, in the last 5 to 10 minutes of their approach to the windward mark from offshore the leaders started to encounter foul ebb tide that closed the gap. Persephone elected to go inshore before her final approach to the mark and gained from this. First round was XL who was there just early enough to avoid the full strength of the ebb, followed by Red Coral and then Perspehone. X173 Beatrix, Bill Dunsdon, also joined the leaders slotting into fourth race as the boats set off on the run back to their leeward mark just to the north of the platform. A second long leg was scheduled, however John Whyte wisely shortened course for a platform finish and in the now very strong ebb tide there were a few place changes as boats fought to cross the line.
Line honours went to XL followed by Persephone then X33 Clair de Lune who made great gains on the short leg to the finish, Red Coral and then X-Ray in fifth.
Full Royal Lymington Yacht Club XOD Series results can be found at rlymyc.org.uk/OnTheWater/Fleets/XOD/XOD_Results.aspx