Blithfield Barrel Series Round 2
by Chris Martin 6 Dec 2016 08:25 GMT
4 December 2016
The second round of the Barrel series took place on Sunday. Crisp conditions were the order of the day, a cold north easterly blowing diagonally across the lake. It looked deceptively calm from the clubhouse shore!
Both flights got underway at the first time of asking, the choice being whether to risk the shifty breeze by the dam hoping for a starboard lift, or come in on port from the middle and hope for a gap - however the low sun made this an even riskier approach than usual as at least one team were to find out!
This race was won by Mike Gibson in the Supernova. Christian Birrel and Tom Pygall came in second with Matt Biggs and Andy Davis in third both in Merlins.
It was a long, hard race with rather tight reaches and the lunch break was even more welcome than usual!
As the fleet set off for race two it seemed as if the wind had increased slightly if anything, though the direction remained steady and PRO John Lees kept to the same course. Once again both flights got away cleanly, and this time there was less chaos at the windward mark as the sun had dropped and those on port could see where they were going! Once again this was a very hard race with lighter teams in powerful boats struggling to hold spinnakers on the reaches.
First were Fergus Barnham and Andy Hunter in a GP14, second was Paul Watson in an RS300 who was loving the tight reaches and there was a tie for third between Christian and Tom's Merlin and the Osprey of Chris Gould and Nick Broomhall.
Thanks again to the Race team, and the Ladies (And Steve) in the Galley who prepared the very welcome lunch. Thanks also to Freedom Brewery and Creation Covers for the prizes they donated.
Round three takes place on 8th January, hangovers should have subsided by then and you'll have had enough of being around the family - no excuses see you there!
Further details on Blithfield Sailing Club website.