XOD Long Race to Cowes at Royal Lymington Yacht Club
by Liz Field 22 Sep 2008 16:35 BST
20 September 2008
Lymington XODs compete in the annual Long Race to Cowes and back © Liz Field
Fourteen Lymington XODs competed in the annual Long Race to Cowes and back in very welcome splendid weather on Saturday.
Rivalry was intense between Rory Paton (X164) Diana and William Norris (X178) Beatrix because it was essential that Diana beat Beatrix to win the Saturday Points Series which ends this month. Paton, ably standing in for Eric Williams, won the race, and therefore the series the first time for some years. At one stage he tacked to cover the wrong boat and afterwards apologized so close was the racing.
The dominance of Adrian and Stuart Jardine appears finally to have been broken, Stuart sailing in Hungary for the weekend and Adrian sailing quickly to the wrong mark.
The beat against a light easterly wind to a buoy off Cowes Harbour was quite straightforward but the downwind run home was more demanding. Boats had to hug the Cowes rocky shoreline to avoid the flood tide and also where they would lose the wind and one went aground. One crew decided to open a bottle of red wine, a rare event in XOD sailing nowadays and after this by staying offshore managed to overtake most of the fleet.
The night before class stalwart Derf Paton and his helpers organized an evening Barbecue at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Almost 100 joined in to celebrate the preservation of the Class for 81 years in the Lymington River with supporters coming from as far afield as Winchester and new owners from Cowes and Yarmouth to sing sea shanties with them all.
Results:
1. Diana (X164) R Paton
2. Beatrix (X178) W Norris
3. Gleam (X156) M Strange
4. Persephone (X92) R Field
5. Mayday (X161) D DaCunha
6. Oyster (X170) F Lees