adidas Poole Week 2017 at Parkstone Yacht Club - Days 1 & 2

A scorching start to adidas Poole Week 2017 © David Harding / www.sailingscenes.com

For the 140-odd competitors from across the country who descended on Parkstone Yacht Club over the weekend, adidas Poole Week got off to the sort of start no one would have expected given the British tradition of Bank Holiday rain and gales: they were greeted on Sunday by blue skies, temperatures soaring into the 20s and a benign 5–8 knots of wind.

One tradition was maintained, however: that of hot competition within the fleets, many of which managed two races before tide started to ebb in earnest.

As usual, the Flying Fifteens saw some extremely close finishes, the first few boats in race 1 crossing the line within seconds of each other. Jo Allam, crewing for the week with various helms including husband Pete, finished the day level on points at the top of the list with Crispin Read-Wilson crewed by Steve Brown.

Also true to form, the Lasers turned out in force and included a good number of radials and 4.7s, though some who might normally have entered with a reduced rig were emboldened by the forecast of predominantly light winds for the week.

Over the past few years you have had to look quite hard to find a Dart in Poole Week, so it's good to see them making a comeback. With 9 boats, they're not competing with the Lasers, XODs or Flying Fifteens in terms of fleet size, but counting the number of hulls moves them well up the rankings. If one team feels a hull short, it will be Miranda and Phil Cotton, more commonly seen these days in a Diam 24.

Back ashore, Sunday's events continued with the daily prize-giving. Recipients included not only those who had excelled on the water, but also the lucky few presented with bundles of adidas sailing kit after their sail numbers were drawn at random. Having learned from previous years, most people made sure they were in the marquee to claim their prizes. The last thing anyone wants to hear as they rush across from the far side of the club is the crowd chanting the dreaded '5 - 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – re-draw!'.

With racing continuing until Friday, there will be plenty more opportunities for competitors to win – or to forfeit – prizes in adidas Poole Week.

Monday dawned with yet more sunshine and warm airs, and the adidas course sailed all of their races, despite a very shifty wind on the left of the course, this forced the Race Officer to send some of the classes on windward/leeward courses instead of Olympic courses for their second race of the day. The LV course had a better wind than yesterday and finished their races in good time.

The tired and thirsty racers enjoyed the daily prize giving in the sunshine with suitable rehydration.

More information at www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/Sailing/Poole_Week.aspx