Lymington Town Sailing Club Charity Pursuit Race & Dutch Auction
by Barry Sticklen 27 Nov 2012 15:09 GMT
25 November 2012
Lymington Town Sailing Club's Autumn Series for keel boats came to a close last weekend with the annual Charity Pursuit Race. Having lost the previous three Sundays racing to either too much or too little wind, both the race committee and competitors alike were hoping for more forgiving weather conditions.
The prospects did not look good first thing on Sunday morning as gusts of thirty five knots were recorded on the start platform. Otherwise, weather conditions were looking hopeful, with clear skies, sunshine and the breeze forecast to ease, the committee boat made its way out to the Solent. The pursuit race format calculates handicap times over a fixed race duration. Yachts have a staggered start, with the slowest starting first. Sunday's fleet included a wide range of yachts, from very occasional racers to the diehard round the cans experts.
With the breeze still gusting into the high twenties, racing got underway on time, with the Fisher 25 Nexus, being first away. The start sequence lasted 38 minutes, last away was the 2012 pursuit race winner, Peter Schofield sailing his HOD 35 Zarafa, ably crewed by a hand picked team of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club's finest sailors. The gusty, wind against tide conditions led to some thrills and spills, with most of the smaller boats electing to keep their spinnakers tucked safely below decks. However, the brave few, who flew their kites made big gains through the fleet, with some superb surfing conditions.
As the clock wound down to the midday finish time, it was Rooie Rakker, the CO26 of Nick Morgan and Oli Pettifer, with hired guns Paul Kelly and Simon Rosier on board, which led the fleet. Approaching the final mark and run to the finish, Rick Otten's 1720 J.A.R Racing snatched the lead, a great achievement considering the number of spectacular spinnaker broaches they experienced on the downwind leg. JAR Racing were first to finish, followed by Rookie Rakker in second place. Zarafa was making huge gains and looked to be on course for third place, but an uncharacteristic tactical error saw them sail to the wrong side of the finish boat, allowing Andy Baker's modified Hunter 707, Jett to take a well deserved third place.
After racing crews gathered in the LTSC Solent Room for some liquid refreshment and the race prize giving. Assistant Race Officer, Nick Hopwood ran the traditional charity auction with lots donated by local companies including Harken, Crew Clothing, Nick Cox Yacht Chandlers and Nauticalia. In total £1627 was raised through entry fees from both keelboats & Dinghies, donations and the auction, with proceeds going to the BBC Children in Need Appeal. LTSC would like to thanks all their generous sponsors and donors of auction lots and all competitors for their support of this annual event.