Solo Nationals

Originally posted by A2Z

Andy Ritchie came in from the left which cemented the fleets conclusion that left is good, to lead from Richard Instone and Tom Gillard. The breeze was holding at 6-7 mph and the spread of the fleet across the course was quite startling. Mark Lee and Malcolm Buchanan were next from Paul Ellis and Andy Tunnicliffe. The fleet rounded the leeward gates to complete one lap then did it all again for lap 2, Guy Mayger and Andy Davis working their way forward into the mix while Tom Gillard took the lead. The wind was dropping and the run down to complete lap 2 was pretty uneventful. I glanced at my watch and noted that we had been racing close to an hour, guess this would be the last lap? We motored down with the fleet, Umpire Steve Watson continued to scan the mast tops for signs of naughtiness while I looked toward the committee boat. A club tender was moored in position, upon it’s mast a brightly coloured flag hung limply, not looking at all interested in flying. We all commented that there was no blue flag which ordinarily denotes a finishing line and no shortened course flag. Tom chose to round the left gate but instead of hardening up for lap 3 he continued on toward the committee boat, the fleet following. Met with silence as he crossed the invisible line we fully expected the next competitor to harden up and head upwind but one after another, the sailors followed, the David Attenborough documentary on Lemmings sprang into my mind and still they continued to fall from the cliff. The race officer took finishing positions, the race though, following a lengthy protest hearing would conclude that all the competitors had failed to finish the race in the allotted time and were therefore DSQ’d.

Sounds like a giant joke to me