Mirror World Championships at Lough Derg Yacht Club - Day 4
by Rachel Solon 1 Aug 2013 22:13 BST
28 July - 2 August 2013
Day 4 of the Mirror World Sailing Championships and the weather forecast for Lough Derg was more amenable that had been expected. Boats launched in incessant rain with a light southerly breeze.
The first race took three attempts as has become the norm for first race. Third time lucky and all got away with Ridegly Ballardes from the Philippines took the left side of the course along with Ireland's Alfie Wisdom and the UK's Robert Bellfield. As the leg progressed the left side certainly looked like it was paying off with Sarah Richards (GBR), Ridgely Balladares and Ryan Robinson from South Africa following suit. Douglas Elmes (IRL) took the middle but certainly looked separated from the leaders during the early stages. Aside from Alfie Wisdom the best Irish at this point was Jack Maye who was also on left side of the course.
Sarah Richardson was first to the weather mark followed by Ryan Robinson and Ridgely Balladares. A few boat lengths later was Nigel Thomas from the UK and local Alfie Wisdom who was having a great leg. The left side certainly paid off with right hand side boats well back at weather mark. Down the spinnaker leg Isabel Davies and Katies Davies started to make a move on the leaders. With the wind starting to increase and visibility reducing with the rain it was hard to see where the leaders were coming from during the early part of the upwind leg. Sarah Richards seemed to go right with most of the others up the middle. Nigel Thomas and Alfie Wisdom had now overtaken Ridegly Ballardes however Sarah Richards had extended her lead at second weather mark and held it to the finish. A battle ensued between Nigel Thomas, Ridegly Ballardes and Ireland's Alfie Wisdom down the reach and spinnaker leg with Thomas and Wisdom eventually taking 2nd and 3rd respectively. Overnight leader Ryan Robinson sailed conservatively and finished in 6th while Douglas Elmes who had been 5th overall could only manage an 18th. Ireland's Kerri-Ann Boylan had a storming race and took 9th to be second Irish boat home. The wind picked up at the end and a number of backmarkers capsized with a few retiring before the second race.
The second race got away the first time with wind steady about 180 degrees. At the pin end David Coady from the UK had a great start followed closely by Rachel Grayson, Esme Shepard and Ridegly Ballardes. With the rain now belting down it looked like the fleet were favouring left side again. Rachel Grayson was the clear leader up the beat with Douglas Elmes now showing alongside Ridegly Ballardes, Robert Belfield, Sarah Richards and Katie Davies. Alfie Wisdom looked like the next Irish boat but he had to do penalty turns and was slow away from the mark. The PRO called for weather mark to be moved further out for next beat as fleet made their way down to bottom mark in a lightening breeze. The lead boats maintained their positions around bottom mark but Rachel Grayson had extended her lead. Series leader Ryan Robinson had been sailing conservatively and at times looked like it was not flying a spinnaker but was still in contact with the top five. Rachel Grayson came out of the right hand side of beat with Sarah Richards, Katie Davies and Ryan Robinson, while Douglas Elmes and Ridegly Ballardes took the middle left.
Rachel Grayson rounded weather mark for the last time with further extended lead with clearly the minor placing between the next five or six boats. Douglas Elmes seemed to get round second followed by Sarah Richards and Katie Davies. The latter had a great leg and got ahead of Douglas Elmes at bottom mark and moved in to second place as they rounded for the short beat to the finish. Douglas Elmes was also under pressure from Ridegly Ballardes and had to be satisfied with a 4th while Sarah Richards finished 5th. Overall leader Ryan Robinson seemed happy to not get too engaged and finished 9th and with a second discard kicking in he still leads.
Report from Dave Woodhead
With a race to catch up from Tuesday and 3 races already in the programme, Wednesday proved to be a long day on the water. The day started with torrential rain and little wind and some concerns over visibility. Eventually after a delayed start the wind filled in sufficiently and visibility cleared enough for racing to begin.
The normal erratic shifts and patches of pressure provided a real challenge. Mastering these difficult conditions were the South African sailors, Ryan and Michaela Robinson with 4 results in the top 5 including a race win. from the Philippines Ridgely Balladeras and Rommel Cheraz also managed single digit results except for a retirement due to gear failure. By contrast Sarah and George Richards gained 2 seconds but also two results in the twenties. These 3 continue to sit in top three positions overall.
Other top ten boats tended to share the same fortunes as the Richards with results in the top 3 and also in the teens or even the twenties. As the day progressed the wind increased and and once again the junior sailors started to shine in the stronger and steadier conditions. Notable amongst these were Katie Davies and Gemma Keers (GBR) Douglas Elms and Scott Levie (IRL) and Isabel Davies and Milly Moss (GBR).
Thursday brought a familiar pattern of weather. Light winds, heavy rain and then clearing skies and a building wind. Predictably getting the first beat right in the shifting winds was key. This time Sarah and George Richards (GBR)hit all the right buttons and never looked back. New faces appeared in the top 3 however with Nigel Thomas and Felix Jeffries (GBR) in second and Alfie Wisdom and Sam Warren (IRL) in third.
By the second race the wind had built up to 18 knots but still remained shifty. The top twenty boats in this championship have very similar boat speed and the last race demonstrated how given the breaks, any of them are potential race winners. Junior GBR sailors Rachael (Reg) Grayson and George Stainforth, previous best result 8th, read the shifts perfectly and gained the windward mark first. Despite the chasing pack containing many of the front runners Reg and George sailed away to win the race by a country mile. Katie and Gemma came second and Ridgely and Rommel were third.
Friday will bring an exciting climax to this 91 boat fleet with two races scheduled. Front runners for the overall title with a 10 point gap to third are Ryan and Michaela Robinson ( RSA) and Ridgely Balladeras and Rommel Chavez (PHI).
Hotly contested will be the World junior title with 3 GBR boats and IRL boat in the frame. From GBR there are Katie and Gemma and Isabel and Milly (Katie and Isabel are twin sisters!). With an outside chance are Joanne Kalderon and Imogen Belfield. The Irish challenge is from Douglas Elms and Scott Levie.
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