Royal Lymington Yacht Club Spring Series - Day 1
by Chris Neve 13 Apr 2010 17:04 BST
11 April 2010
The Spring Series lived up to its name this year as one of the race team was woken up at dawn on Sunday 11th April by the sound of the first cuckoo of the year. Bright sunshine and a brisk, if chilly, wind from the east, put everyone in the mood for an excellent day’s racing. Chief Race Officer Tony Blachford managed to give the fleet two good races, in spite of the easterly wind being counteracted by the sea breeze during the second race. This also gave the crews some early sail change practice as they changed sails to make the best of the conditions.
The start of IRC Class 1 was a close call between Peter Scholfield’s Zarafa and Chris and Hannah Neve’s new boat No Chance, Zarafa just getting the advantage but No Chance, on her first race at the Club, crossed the finish first. They returned the compliment by crossing the start first on the second start and then carried on to take that race too. Weather conditions suited Ray Crouch’s Boomerang in IRC Class 2 and she won both races in spite of some spirited challenges from David Lees’ Hephzibah and Stephen James’s Jacobite. Roger Harford in Red Kite found the conditions much to his liking in the Lymington Handicap class. The Folkboat fleet enjoyed some very competitive racing with Svenja taking the lead by being the most consistent.
Sean Muskett, on only his second sail in the Club’s RS Elite, Freebie, had a good day, with some intensive tuning of the boat during the races resulting in third place behind seasoned campaigners Activ 3g, Paul Jenkins and RSsailing.com, Martin Wadhams. Racing continues next Sunday, 18th April.
Results after 2 races:
Class 1 IRC
1st No Chance, Chris/Hannah Neve
2nd Zarafa, Peter Scholfield
3rd Jibe, Robin Taunt
Class 2 IRC
1st Boomerang, Ray Crouch
2nd Hephzibah, David Lees
3rd Jacobite, Stephen James
Lymington Handicap
1st Red Kite, Roger Harford
2nd Roller Coaster, Denis Bates
3rd Team Sailtime, Richard Pierpoint
Nordic Folkboat
1st Svenja, Michael Stoner
2nd Yukon, Rick Otten
3rd Crackerjack, Matthew Jones / Stuart Watson
RS Elite
1st Activ 3g, Paul Jenkins
2nd RSsailing.com, Martin Wadhams
3rd Freebie, Sean Muskett