Lymington XOD fleet Wednesday Series Race 10
by Roy Froud 3 Jul 2014 17:20 BST
2 July 2014
Seventeen boats turned out on a gorgeous hot sunny July afternoon and with a shifting Southerly light breeze Race Officer John Trundle set a testing beat to mark 1, Black Rock, off Yarmouth across a turning tide. Many different theories as to the correct way to go were employed and as it transpired those who went right gained the most with N1, Xoanon helmed by David Carslaw heading off Stuart Jardine in X119 Lone Star with Nik Froud helming X57 Red Coral, who had taken a route up the centre, just behind.
The ebb tide was building and the run to mark G, Bridgefords, was very tricky. Lone Star managed to grab the lead with Richard Field in X92, Persephone gaining a lot of ground by staying out in the stronger breeze and weaker tide, and up into second place. Ado Jardine in X140, Lucrezia also gained noticeable distance on the leaders and overtook a number of boats by employing similar tactics to Persephone.
Through the winding course home X48 XL, helmed by Rory Paton and Lucrezia battled hard for 4th place with John Cooper in X175 Xenon hopeful of a mistake. However, there was no stopping Lone Star as she went on to win, somewhat surprisingly her first win of the season.
Race 10 Results: (top five)
1st Lone Star, Stuart Jardine
2nd Persephone, Richard & Liz Field
3rd Xoanon, David Carslaw
4th XL, Rory Paton
5th Lucrezia, Ado Jardine