Laser 2000 Millennium Series Round 5 at Wilsonian Sailing Club

Laser 2000 Millenmium Series Round 5 at Wilsonian © Colin Treadwell

Wilsonian SC hosted the penultimate event in the 2012 Millennium Series over the weekend of 29/30 September, with 23 boats competing. Ten visitors made the trip to the river Medway to experience a change to normal Millennium Series racing format.

Whilst Saturday's racing adopted the usual windward-leeward style of course, Sunday's format was considerably different, adopting starts from the fixed club line (one downwind, which may be a first for an MS event), and racing around the fixed navigation marks of the estuary.

The weekend kicked off with a Friday evening meal, washed down with a locally brewed beer, followed by a night in a tent and few people looking rather the worse for wear as formal proceedings got under way on Saturday morning.

Saturday 29 September

Saturday saw some ideal sailing conditions, with glorious sunshine complimenting the pleasant North Westerly force 3 breeze, for the day's scheduled three back-to-back races. Despite the suggestion at the briefing that the planned race area customarily experienced relatively steady winds, competitors endured some major shifts, some in the region of 45º, particularly on the approach to the windward mark.

Race 1 – Chris and Gill Jordan Jordan, sailing 22321, made an early decision to head off to the left side of the course, capitalizing on the remainder of the flood tide. In so doing, and despite their starting position off the line, they enjoyed a comfortable lead for the first half of the beat, though fading during the latter half. Miles and Anderley Wade in 22361 worked tirelessly up the beat, eventually overhauling Chris and Gill to round the windward mark in first place. Iain and Sarah Yardley in 2204 rounded in second, after a closely fought battle with James and Jenny Macgregor, who rounded hard on their heels in third place.

Iain and Sarah then took the lead on the second lap, rounding the windward mark with a very comfortable margin. Miles and Anderley rounded in second place, with Brian Lamb and Bobbie Burnell having to duck their transom on the approach to round in third. Iain and Sarah retained their lead to the finish line, followed across by Miles and Anderley. James and Jenny chased hard on the downwind leg to take third place, and Brian and Bobbie crossed in fourth. Chris and Gill finished in fifth.

Race 2 - With a port-end bias, Colin and Lauren opted for a port-end flier, ducking just one transom, in their attempt to reach the favoured right hand side of the course. The majority of the fleet headed towards the favoured side, though James and Jenny opted to tack up the middle of the beat, initially making very good progress with good boat speed. Following their subsequent decision to then tack off towards the left side of the course, however, they lost their earlier advantage. Miles and Anderley assumed the lead and rounded the windward mark in first place, followed by Iain and Sarah. Dave Vettergreen and Janice Smith, approaching in third place were unable to round without hitting the mark and had to do re-round. Brian and Bobbie, in a bit of local club rivalry with Colin Treadwell and Lauren Campbell, then hit the same mark, also having to do a turn and allowing Colin and Lauren to round in third place.

By the time they had reached the leeward gate, Miles and Anderley had accrued a considerable lead over the rest of the fleet, with Iain and Sarah rounding next. Having recouped some of the ground they had lost earlier at the windward mark, David and Janice rounded in third with Paul and James Clark in fourth.

On the second beat, Iain and Sarah opted to go further inshore, out of the tide, in an attempt to gain ground on Miles and Anderley, who watched and covered. It seemed to pay off, with the gap between them narrowing, despite the better pointing and boat speed of Miles/Anderley. These two retained their respective positions to the finish line, with Colin and Lauren finishing in third, Chris and Gill in fourth and James and Jenny in fifth.

Race 3 - The spring ebb tide was now in full flow, so by starting at the committee boat end of the line Chris and Gill were able to tack off immediately on to port and head towards the favoured right hand side of the course, out of the tide. In so doing, they were also the first boat in the fleet to benefit from a 40º shift in the wind, enabling them to round the windward mark with a comfortable lead. Colin and Lauren rounded in second, with a comfortable gap themselves ahead of the rest of the fleet. Chasing the leading two were Paul Rodgers and Jeremy Drummond in 22131 and Miles and Anderley, themselves engaged in a close tussle. On the downwind leg, Chis and Gill proceeded along the middle of the channel, whereas Colin and Lauren opted for the right hand side in an attempt to gain ground. The leading pair retained a comfortable gap ahead of the following pack, led by Miles and Anderley.

It was somewhat unfortunate that, after some excellent racing in glorious conditions, the wind dropped off significantly on the long beat back to the club, against the strong ebb tide, making for a lengthy time overall on the water.

The day ended with supper and a light-hearted quiz, accompanied by the remainder of the beer barrel. More headaches were inevitable the following morning.

Sunday 30 September

Fortunately, the earlier weather forecasts proved to be less than accurate. Whilst the breeze was certainly much stronger than on Saturday, and continued to build as the day progressed, it was nothing like that predicted in previous forecasts. There was also a lot of cloud cover, but we never got to suffer the deluge that had been predicted in earlier forecasts.

This was the day where the racing format deviated from the customary windward-leeward format for MS events, with two races from the club's fixed start line, one downwind, racing around the estuary channel markers.

Race 4 saw the fleet start off downwind, in a downstream direction, in a South Westerly force 3 (with some strong gusts). Roy Winnett and Geoff Lambert in 21792 got off to an excellent start on the South side of the river, out of the tide, whereas Chris and Gill opted to start in the middle of the channel and quickly overhauled Roy and Geoff. Despite the very unpredictable conditions immediately after the start, resulting from wind shadows caused by housing on the south shore, Roy and Geoff stuck to their game plan and regained the lead to the first mark, followed by Chris and Gill and Iain and Sarah.

There were several place changes as the fleet raced downwind, with some choosing to stick to the north shore out of the tide, and others opting to stay in the middle of the channel. Dave Vettergreen and Janice Smith in 2643 led the way to the gybe mark, with Chris and Gill closing the gap in hot pursuit. James and Jenny rounded the gybe mark in third.

The leading two held their positions for much of the early part of the race, but on the second leg of a windward/leeward loop Chris and Gill worked hard to catch Dave and Janice, and eventually overhauled them before reaching the gybe mark. Colin and Lauren, followed by John Smith and Sally Tavener in 21563 opted to take the opposite side of the course on this second downwind leg, to benefit from less tide and a higher angle in to the mark. This paid dividends,, and they each took several places in the process. On the long beat back upstream towards the finish line, against the tide, Colin and Lauren continued to make ground on the leaders, climbing to third place by the half way stage of the beat. After rounding the penultimate mark of the course, Chris and Gill hoisted their spinnaker immediately and flew along the close reach to the final mark. Dave and Janice, rounding in second place, opted not to hoist the kite on the basis that the angle was too tight to hold the kite in the gusty conditions. Colin and Lauren, with little to lose at this late stage of the race, hoisted immediately after rounding and quickly overhauled Dave and Janice in exciting planning conditions. James and Jenny did likewise, and rounded the final mark in third position, with David and Janice now feeling somewhat demoralised rounding in fourth.

Race 5 - The breeze had continued to build during the latter part of the morning and early afternoon, and by the start of race 5 had picked up to a good force 4-5. In the prevailing South Westerly it was impossibly to set a true upwind beat to the first mark, so most boats were able to reach the mark on a close fetch. James and Jenny rounded first, followed by Chris and Gill and then by John Hewat and Sam Pygall in 2229.

Before freeing off to a broader reach, the fleet endured a close reach in some very strong gusts. Several boats, now finding it difficult to stay on course, dropped their spinnakers. Chris and Gill managed to hold their kite longer than most and took the lead into the broader leg of the course. The following pack were hit by a mighty gust, forcing them to bear away hard and lower their kites. There were a number of capsizes at this point. The long reach down river, now with tide under the fleet, was really quite exhilarating. Most of the fleet opted to stick to the lee shore, whereas Iain and Sarah stayed out in the middle of the channel. Whilst benefitting from maximum tide under them, they also considered it prudent to leave plenty of space to bear away in the strong gusts.

Chris and Gill retained their lead to the downstream mark, with quite a tussle developing behind them between James and Jenny, Colin and Lauren and John and Sam. James and Jenny reached the gybe mark ahead of the other two, with Colin and Lauren overhauling John and Sam on the approach. After rounding, the gybe mark, Colin and Lauren gained ground on James and Jenny, and managed to gain the inside overlap at the next mark to take second place.

The beat back upstream was extremely hard work, against the strong ebb tide, with gust of force 5-6 at times. This was followed by a long fetch back in the direction of the club, and then a final close reach to the finish line. Despite their best efforts to gain ground on Chris and Gill on the final approach to the line, Colin and Lauren were unable to make any appreciable gain to threaten the leaders. John Hewat and Sam Pygall, managing to stay on the plane for longer than the boats ahead on the final approach to the line, crossed in third place, followed by Brian Lamb and Bobbie Burnell in fourth.

All-in-all, the event was both different and very challenging, and Wilsonian SC were delighted to have had the opportunity to welcome visiting boats for their first ever Millennium Series event.

Overall Results: