RS Elite Crabber's Nip Autumn Series at Hayling Island Sailing Club - Day 4

RS Elite Crabber's Nip trophy © Paul Fisk

A small but perfectly formed fleet of five boats gathered for Race 4 of the Autumn Series for the prestigious Crabber's Nip Trophy on a chilly Sunday morning with a steady north-easterly breeze and a building ebb tide over a windward-leeward course between Dunes and Johns Folly inside the Harbour.

Legs Eleven (11 – Paul and Caroline Fisk and Nick Peters) and More T Vicar (67 – Ossie Stewart, Ian Tillett and Cam Stewart) led the charge across the Harbour against the tide seeking the shallows of the Pilsey shore. Close behind Lazy Daisy (6 – Andy and Karen Partington and Adrian Ward) were nip and tuck with Shaken Not Stirred (7 – Colin and Jamie Smith and Anna Wells) just ahead of Trigger's Broom (43 – Mike Dawe, Paul Carpenter and Peter Hickson).

While Legs Eleven were busy spotting an inflatable buoy that turned out to be sitting in the back of a moving RIB from Itchenor SC, More T Vicar picked the perfect lay line from a quarter of a mile out to lead the fleet in to the windward mark. Legs Eleven rounded second just in front of Lazy Daisy in third, Shaken Not Stirred fourth and Trigger's Broom fifth. After a tricky leeward mark rounding in the strong tide, More T Vicar set off up the second beat across the tide towards Pilsey with Legs Eleven hanging on to their coat tails. In the meantime, Lazy Daisy and Shaken Not Stirred split the fleet by tacking off to try their luck along the East Head shore. When the fleet came back together at the other end of the beat, More T Vicar and Legs Eleven had opened up a substantial gap to Shaken Not Stirred who by now had got the better of Lazy Daisy. The leaders enjoyed a more relaxed run to the leeward mark.

With the Pilsey shore clearly favoured, once again the fleet crossed the tide for the third beat. More T Vicar fired up the after burners to leave Legs Eleven scratching their heads, wondering what they were doing wrong. After an uneventful third run, Lazy Daisy suffered a bit of kite trawling at the leeward mark, ending their chances of getting back at Shaken Not Stirred. In the meantime, Trigger's Broom sniffed a whiff of Sunday lunch and retired to the bar.

Positions were unchanged for the final lap with More T Vicar finishing first, Legs Eleven second, Shaken Not Stirred third and Lazy Daisy fourth. Good to see newcomer to the fleet and potential new owner, Adrian Ward, out on the water – we look forward to welcoming Adrian to the Elites in the near future.

Many thanks to the Race Team for some excellent Sunday morning racing and getting everyone ashore in time for a splendid Sunday lunch.

Autumn Series Results after Day 4: