Contessa 32 Open at Lymington Town Sailing Club
by Alastair Beeton 25 Jun 2013 14:41 BST
22-23 June 2013
Contessa Catherine and Blanco battle it out at the start during the Lymington Contessa Open © A Beeton
Contessas brave high winds for weekend regatta
Lymington Town Sailing Club played host to a breezy Contessa Open Meeting last weekend. With wind of 30-40 knots on Saturday, many competitors decided to stay in port. However, two boats braved the conditions to arrive in Lymington from the Hamble and Cowes. With conditions freshening further, the race committee consulted all skippers and it was decided to abandon the racing for the day.
Sunday brought perfect conditions for racing and four boats congregated at the start line. Race officer Keith Willis set a long course in the western Solent. The fleet stuck together to the windward mark by Hurst with just a few minutes separating the boats round the mark. From there it was a downwind leg to Harken, beyond Yarmouth, before another upwind leg, a reach and a final beat to the finish.
The racing was full of excitement, especially for the crew of Blanco who skilfully coped with two heart stopping broaches as their spinnaker got wrapped around the rigging. Contessa 'Firefly' had a storming down wind leg only to over shoot the second mark resulting in her having to back track to catch up.
The wind freshened to 25 to 30 knots, but the racing remained tight to the end, resulting in a 9-second gap between the first and second boats after two and a half hours of sailing.
Overall Results:
1st Drumbeat in 2hrs 24min 13sec (Island SC)
2nd Blanco in 2hrs 24min 22sec (Upper Thames SC)
3rd Contessa Catherine in 2hrs 28min 51sec (LTSC)
4th Firefly in 2hrs 35min 59sec (LTSC)