Saturday XOD Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 11

Chris Baldwick, our race officer, set a well-judged course for this race, run with a light northerly wind and a rising tide.

There was a choice of starting by the box to get into the tide sooner, or the outer distance end, which offered a shorter distance and a faster point of sailing. Rory Paton in XL opted for the the box end which proved to be the fastest way to Jacksons. He was followed round the buoy by Ibex (Paul Woodman) and XRAY (Robin Balme).

The next mark was Inner Pyewell, where some opted to stay out in the tide to lee-bow. Rory lost some of his lead but was still first round followed by Ibex, X-ray and Lucrezia for the run down to Jacksons again. The wind meanwhile had gone round to the west which left bulk of the fleet with little wind to get round the buoy.

The next leg was a beat to Oxey with a strengthening breeze. Rory managed to get away well, followed by Ibex X-ray and Lucrezia, after which there was a run through the line to Pywell and the positions did not change at the front other than a tussle between Adrian Jardine and Robin Balme with positions changing several times. Adrian eventually scraped-in 3 seconds ahead. There was a fleet of 16 with several boat not sailing because of the Round Island Race.

Race 11 Results: (top five)

1st XL
2nd Ibex
3rd Lucrezia
4th X-RAY
5th Red Coral

Full RLymYC XOD Series results can be found here.