XOD Wednesday Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 20
by Roy Froud 19 Sep 2016 11:11 BST
14 September 2016
It was once again sunshine and shirt sleeve conditions for the fifteen X One Designs that raced last Wednesday in a light SW breeze. Race team of John & Wendy Trundle (Team Trundle!) set an inshore course with three windward-leeward legs to keep the fleet out of the stronger tide.
At the start the majority of the fleet opted for the pin end of the line in order to get out into the ebb tide early, however first round the windward mark was X57 Red Coral, Roy Froud & Robert Young, who made gains by starting at the platform end where there was more bias.
Closely behind was X48, XL, Rory Paton, followed by X117 X-Ray, Robin Balme and X9 Zest, Phil & Jo Brewer. Unfortunately for the early leaders the wind became extremely light at the end of the first run and with the tide still ebbing the fleet compressed. First round was Zest followed by X-Ray, XL, Red Coral and X140 Lucrezia, Ado Jardine, who made good gains on the run.
The next beat was very tactical with the wind now quite light and the tide about to turn to the flood at any minute. The leading four boats took different courses and the offshore route favoured by X-Ray and Red Coral paid with them rounding in first and second respectively followed by Zest in third, who took a very inshore route, and XL in fourth with quite a gap to the fleet behind.
The leaders were hoping for the course to be shortened as they passed through the gate at the platform but the Team Trundle race team sent them around for another leg down to G, Baker Marine, off Tanners and then back towards the shortened finish at S, Sanders Sails. The beat back to the finish was very challenging as the tide was now flooding strongly with the wind very light and so the only option was short tacking up the shore and risking getting stuck on the mud, which unfortunately some boats did!
At the finish X-Ray just pipped Zest with XL in third, Red Coral in fourth and David & Fenella Lees in X170 Oyster just pipping Ian Burr in X164 Diana for fifth. This was a very enjoyable and challenging race!
Full Royal Lymington Yacht Club XOD Series results can be found at rlymyc.org.uk/OnTheWater/Fleets/XOD/XOD_Results.aspx