National 12 Burton Week at Brixham Yacht Club - Day 5

Race 5

There are a number of requests for redress as a result of the wind in race 5 so anything could happen with the individual results or the race could be abandoned.

In summary, a weak front was expected this morning. At around 09:30am it looked like the front was passing over. The race officer wisely decided to postpone until the wind had filled in fully. A nice force 3 filled the bay at around 11am and the fleet launched.

The wind shifted hard left half way up the first beat favouring those who had kept left. Leading this pack were Frances Gifford & Sophie Mackley with brother Antony just behind. Fran & Sophie rounded the windward mark first with Antony & J just behind. Close on their tails were Jon Ibbotson & Charlotte Stewart with Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne trying to overtake on the reach. All was fine on this lap but on the next beat things went a bit random. In summary it paid to go left or right but avoid the middle. Fran & Sophie went hard right, a bold move which initially looked risky, but in the end it paid off as they kept their lead at the second windward mark rounding. They were closely followed by Antony & Jo. John & Katy Meadowcroft led the pack going left. The left going pack looked really good early on and then somehow managed to consolidate their gains when the fleet joined back up with those coming with a huge lift from the right. Meanwhile those who went up the middle playing the shifts suffered.

The third beat was similarly variable as lots of rain clouds appeared and the bulk of the front passed over. As the leaders approached the windward mark the wind started to disappear leaving the fleet slogging away against a little chop. The next reach was very light as the wind vapourised. The fleet bunched at the gybe mark as a little wind filled from behind. Antony & Jo just managed to squeeze in front of Fran & Sophie at the mark. There was a small band of wind filling from the other side of the bay and the bulk of the fleet headed on a tight reach in order to get ot the wind, sailing about 20 degrees above the leeward mark whilst a few decided to stick to the rhumb line hoping the wind might fill from behind. In the end the wind filled from both behind and from the left in zephyr style streaks. The race officer decided to shorten at the leeward mark and the whole fleet crossed the downwind finish line within a few minutes of each other.

Positions were mixed up a little during the flat calm and subsequent return of the breeze hence a redress hearing going on at 1900 this evening.

Race 5 Results Update:

The result of last night's hearing in the request for redress for race 5 was that the result of the race stood. The results of race 5 were therefore:

1st Fran Gifford & Sophie Mackley
2nd Jon Ibbotson & Charlotte Stewart
3rd Tom Stewart & Liz Ross
4th Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne
5th Jon & Juliet Brown