Gill / Harken / Seamark Nunn Cadet Week at Waldringfield - Days 3 & 4

GILL / Harken / Seamark Nunn Waldringfield Cadet Week © Andrew Nunn

GILL / Harken / Seamark Nunn Waldringfield Cadet Week © Andrew Nunn

Day 3 of Cadet Week saw the 33 Cadets and 5 Laser Radials venture out in brilliant sunshine and a reasonable F2-3, although the shifty conditions were to cause considerable problems for the race management team in setting a course.

After a short delay a figure 8 course was set and Race 6 got underway in the Cadet Gold Fleet. 2 boats were called OCS but only 1 returned to clear the line. 9962 Cara Bland & Ines Green pulled out a decent lead and showed fantastic boat handling skills round the course, but were being chased hard by 9983 Katie Spark/Connor Line. After the 3rd lap the course was shortened but as Cara & Ines crossed the line there was a deafening silence as they realised they had been the other OCS boat! By this time 9877 Hattie & Hamish Collingridge had pulled through so they took 1st place followed by Katie & Connor, with 9876 Ellie Wootton / Amelia Mayhew in 3rd, who having recovered from a very poor 1st beat they clawed their way back up the fleet. 8852 Hazel Whittle & Imogen Leigh finished an excellent 4th place.

Race 7 got underway after a long postponement waiting for the wind direction to settle, with the race officer opting for a simple triangle/sausage course with a gate. This time in was 9001 Erin Marks / Sam Goult who built up a commanding lead as the breeze freshened. However Erin missed the gate on lap 2 so for the second time of the day the leading boat was not given a finishing gun by the committee boat! Cara & Ines made up for their earlier OCS by taking the win from Hattie & Hamish, with 9050 Bee Harris / Anna Horackova in 3rd and Ellie/Amelia in 4th and 9994 Lucie Nunn / Elouise Mayhew in 5th.

The 9-boat Cadet Silver Fleet joined in the racing for the first time having completed 2 days of training with their coach Emily Bland. Starting 5 minutes behind the Gold Fleet, they were able to use their new found racing skills to the maximum. 9633 Ben & Tom Whitmore won the first race, while Oppie sailor Ollie Meadowcroft with crew Gracie Joslin – who had capsized and retired in the first race – won convincingly from 9301 Jamie Goodhead / Max Thompson.

In the Laser Radials Ed Harris took another win in Race 6, with Archie Goodhead winning Race 7.

Day 4 saw a new race officer (Tim Archer) take control and a course was set towards Tips. 9374 Angus Collingridge / Emila Green were first round the windward mark to huge cheers from the spectator RIBs, but once again Cara & Ines showed blistering speed up the 2nd beat to take the lead and they were never headed. Ellie / Amelia, Katie / Connor and 9042 Daisy Nunn / Tyghe Brown tussled for the next few places but in the end it was Katie/Connor in 2nd and Ellie/Amelia in 2nd & 3rd respectively.

GILL / Harken / Seamark Nunn Waldringfield Cadet Week - photo © Andrew Nunn

For Race 9 the race officer opted for a traditional Cadet Week course – round the island. Ellie / Amelia won the start and arrived at the windward mark 1st and held their lead to the end after 3 laps round the island. Hattie/Hamish and Katie/Connor were 2nd & 3rd respectively while 9241 Alex Eaton / Marc Atkinson came in a well-deserved 5th.

In Silver Fleet Ollie & Gracie scored 2 race wins to lead overall with 8449 James Russell/Tristan Whittle scoring a 3rd and a 2nd to leave them in 2nd overall and the Whitmores 3rd overall.

The afternoon racing saw the Cadet sailors dressed as pirates (and even decorating their boats as Pirate ships) for the pursuit race and the Crew's race. The pursuit race was won by Silver Fleet leaders Ollie & Gracie – a fantastic result! The Crew's race was hotly contested and was a photo finish on the line between Rhona Enkel taking the win from Hamish Collingridge by a whisker.

Pirates at Waldringfield Cadet Week! - photo © Andrew Nunn

So in the Cadet Gold Fleet, with 9 races sailed and 2 to go tomorrow Hattie & Hamish Collingridge hold a 2-point lead over Cara Bland and Ines Green, with both discards now applying to the results. With bright sunshine and a decent 12-15 knots forecast tomorrow, we look forward to an exciting conclusion to this wonderful Junior Regatta!

Results after Day 4:

Cadet Gold Fleet

Cadet Silver Fleet

Laser Fleet