XOD Wednesday Autumn Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 1
by Doug Rogerson 29 Sep 2016 11:43 BST
28 September 2016
Condor soaring high
Wednesday saw a plucky turnout for the first race of the XOD Autumn series. An ebbing tide against a south-westerly averaging 20 knots made for a lively start and soon managed to unseat Roy Froud sailing with son Nick in Venus (I'm assured he wasn't pushed!). John Miller with his crew in Mystery kindly plucked him from the clutches of Neptune earning average points for their good deed.
Condor, featuring Lawrie Smith for a guest appearance, showed good speed up the windward leg to round Dunford (B) ahead of XL and Zest. An enjoyable run with the surf to Berthon (F) kept everyone on their toes with some good close racing in the pack. The leaders held positions throughout the next up and downwind legs, despite the added challenges of a changing tide and marks appearing very small in the spray!
Turning Baker Marine (G), the final mark, saw Condor remaining firmly in control and able to keep cover on XL and Zest with Beatrix closing as they headed for the mainland shore to escape the building tide. After some close tacking up the shore Beatrix just got her nose ahead to steal 3rd place.
1st Condor - Joey Hutchinson
2nd XL - Rory Paton
3rd Beatrix - William Norris
4th Zest - Phil and Jo Brewer