Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit - Day 7

The final race of the 2016 Lymington Town Sailing Club's Solent Circuit was held on Sunday. There was a short postponement to allow the overnight gales to drop. Racing started just 20 minutes after the scheduled start time in a cold 20 knot westerly breeze. This gave a beat against the strong flood tide and all classes were set courses close to the Hampshire shore to enable the competitors to use the slacker water.

First away were the IRC class. Five boats had at least a slim chance of winning the largest trophy in the LTSC cabinet. Jaywalker (J97) led ahead of Gravity (Hunter 707), with Jelly Baby (J105), Colleen (J30)and Boomerang (Adams10) just a few points behind. Jay Walker won the start only to dip back unnecessarily. Jelly Baby soon established a good lead but on the long beat back along the Hampshire shore Jay Walker closed the gap. Jay Walker won on handicap from Jelly Baby and Colleen so taking the series. Gravity, despite finishing fifth in this deciding race, held on to take second overall on countback after tying on points with Jelly Baby.

The Lymington Adjusted Handicap class sailed the same course as the IRC. Unity led the series by a single point over OK Yah (Dehler 28), with Google Eye Trapper) and Dynamic (Dehler 29) within three points. Conditions favoured the faster boats in the fleet. Dynamic lead home as the course was shortened and held her time to win from OK Yah and Unity (Westerly Konsort). As the second discard kicked in OK Yah was able to discard a tenth and take the series. Again 2nd and 3rd were equal on points with Dynamic winning on countback, her reward for winning the last race.

By comparison, the J80 deciding race was relatively straight forward. Checkmate led at the first mark but No Regrets soon overhauled them and led to the finish. Fiducial also climbed up the fleet to take second from Checkmate. Overall there were no changes with No Regrets taking the series and with it the best performance of any boat in the regatta counting only 5 firsts. Fiducial closed the gap on Checkmate who had nevertheless done enough to hold onto second overall.

The tightest racing was in the folkboat fleet. Stralende went into the race three points behind Padfoot. A poor start from the overall leaders saw them have to cross the line in last after they were forced outside the outer distance mark. Pilgrim and Otter stood between Padfoot and the series title. Padfoot battled past Otter into the top 3, but Pilgrim held them off, allowing Stralende to win the series. They were equal on count back but Stralende took it on the basis of the last result.

Padfoot had to settle for second as Pilgrim's result not only decided the title, but earned them third place overall in the process.

Race 7 Results:

IRC
1, Bob Baker, Jaywalker
2, William Newton, Jelly Baby
3, Allan Hill, Colleen

LAH
1, John Turner, Dynamic
2, Robert Young, OK Yah
3, Richard Truscott, Unity

J80
1, Chris and Hannah Neve, No Regrets
2, Andrew Hurst, Fudicial
3, Ray Mitchell, Checkmate

Folkboat
1, Simon Flack, Stralende
2, Julian Sowry, Pilgrim
3, Chris Hills, Padfoot

Overall Results:

IRC
1, Bob Baker, Jaywalker
2, Simon McCarthy, Gravity
3, William Newton, Jelly Baby

LAH
1, Robert Young, OK Yah
2, John Turner, Dynamic
3, Richard Truscott, Unity

J80
1, Chris and Hannah Neve, No Regrets
2, Ray Mitchell, Checkmate
3, Andrew Hurst, Fudicial

Folkboat
1, Simon Flack, Stralende
2, Chris Hills, Padfoot, Pilgrim
3, Julian Sowry

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