Mad March Pursuit kicks off Hollowell Sailing Club's 2015 season
by Robin Buxton 2 Mar 2015 17:40 GMT
1 March 2015
Mad March Pursuit kicks off the season at Hollowell © Robin Buxton
After a two month winter break, the sailing season kicked off again at Hollowell Sailing Club with the inaugural Mad March Pursuit. This appropriately named annual race is never without incident; with sailor often rusty from the annual break, unfamiliar new boats being tested for the first time, squally winds and freezing cold water.
Given these predictable conditions, you'd expect a poor turnout. However Hollowell sailors are made from some pretty hard stuff and 20 of them took part in this year's race.
As it turned out, the winds were not nearly as fierce as forecasted. There were still some big twitchy gusts at the start of the race that caught a few out, including Keith Lancaster who went over testing out his brand new Solo. Lancaster was hit by a gust on his first beat, whilst trying to find the right coloured piece of string to pull the outhaul out (some of us are still trying to find that elusive bit of string!).
Commenting afterward, Lancaster said "I was apprehensive about going out in those conditions in a boat I was not familiar with. My worst fears materialised."
Alex MacMillan was another casualty, managing to dunk his wife in splendid style. Reports from the Club House say that she is still speaking to him at least. Meanwhile both Ivor McDonnell and Andrew Sturt found themselves out of favour with the Gods and failed to finish.
However it was a day for Lasers, with the youth taking on the maturity at the front. The rest of the pack then tried but failed to catch up, being hampered further as the wind started to die; a phenomenon which often happen when you are at the back for some reason.
The race ended with an all Laser Podium. Martin Hudson took first place, Young Isabel King in a 4.7 claimed second and Ian Clark finished third.
This coming weekend sees the start of the Spring Sunday Series with fair winds currently forecasted for the day.