Comet Open at Attenborough Sailing Club
by Roger Day 21 Jun 2016 08:30 BST
18 June 2016
Comets at Attenborough © Roger Day
Ten club Comets were joined by seven visitors for this year's Comet open meeting at Attenborough Sailing Club on 18th June. Three races were organised with two to count for final positions.
The first race started in a light force 2 but a late wind shift meant that the leg to the first mark was a close fetch for some and at worst a short tack was needed to make the mark. It didn't take long for a break by five boats from the main fleet with Henry Jaggers (Beer SC) taking an early lead from Chris Hatton (Seven SC) with John Twigg (Ulley SC), Eddy Pope (Ogston) and Paul Jago (Attenborough SC) chasing. At the end of lap two Chris Hatton had take the lead where he stayed until the end and the only other significant change to the top five was John Twigg falling down to finish fifth. At the bottom of the fleet there was very little change in the positions.
Race two after lunch started in very light air and it took several competitors several minutes to even cross the line. Chris Hatton and Eddy Pope were jockeying for position on the line but unfortunately for Chris he hit the line too early and had to return but had soon passed half the fleet before the first mark. At the end of lap one Eddy Pope was in the lead from John Coppenhall (Hunts) and Chris Hatton who had climbed up through the fleet. The race was shortened to two laps to stay within an hour finish for the first boats Eddy Pope maintained his lead with Chris Hatton finishing a close second followed by John Coppenhall.
The wind filled in for the start of race three but was very inconsistent. Chris Hatton once again got away well but at the end of the first lap a new name appeared second on the leader board, that of Paul Jago from Attenborough SC sailing a loaned boat. He was closely followed by Eddy Pope and Henry Jaggers. The difficult wind conditions highlighted the difference between the fleet leaders and those enjoying their racing at the back of the fleet as the first three boats had started to lap the back markers. Chris came home first but Paul slipped third whilst Eddy had taken the second spot. As the wind dropped to a zephyr the back markers only just managed to finish within the time limit.