Sea Interclub Series at Highcliffe Sailing Club

by Sarah Desjonqueres & Chris Arnell 30 May 2017 08:08 BST 14 May 2017

Fluky conditions test sea sailors

Despite a rather limp forecast, Christchurch SC, Mudeford SC and Highcliffe SC all met up in Christchurch Bay for races 5 &6 of their Sea Interclub Series. Like a pre race warm up, just getting down the Run and out to sea with light SE winds fighting a strong flood tide saw everyone arrive at the start line battle ready and raring to go. With the wind turning out to be better than expected, although still light, it made for some challenging upwind conditions against the chop but after getting away to a clean start it was Christchurch's Atkins (Finn) who lead the charge to the windward mark, with fellow sailor Arnell (OK) and Acton (Laser) tucked in tightly behind.

Racing a square course, Mudeford's Reid (Radial) kept in close contact with the 3 leading boats with Highcliffe's Wells (Radial) and Bell (Europe) maintaining touching distance throughout. It was Atkins however who never relinquished his lead from start to finish taking the line honours after 3 laps followed in by Arnell who finished just 24 seconds ahead of Acton. Despite the close racing however, on correction Atkins had not done quite enough handing the win to team mate Arnell, with Reid's persistence gaining him a 2nd place with Acton keeping his hard earned 3rd place.

With a heavy pin end bias attracting all the sailors to one end of the line, the start of the second race saw some start line argy bargy as several boats tried to squeeze in and claim their spot at the mark. For a moment it looked like Reid was set to 'win the pin' but Acton's attempts to dive into the gap ended in both boats being pushed head to wind. It was Reid who recovered first, tacking on to port and getting away from the line leaving Acton to pay his dues and complete his 360. Choosing to avoid the fun and games by starting at the Committee Boat end were Bell and Arnell who got both a clean start and clean wind and sped off to the windward mark.

The fickle light winds however were clearly getting bored and by the second round simply decided to go and play elsewhere. The Race Team crossed fingers and toes and let the fleet continue onto the last round but eventually hoisted the shortened course flag on the beat as the wind simply forgot to blow in small pockets of the bay. Acton, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, losing out to Bell and Reid as they recovered well capitalising on the slight wind shift in order to gain some places. It was Atkins lead, established from the start that served him well in the end, crossing the line with the dying puffs of wind as the rest of the fleet struggled to cross the line. In the end after correction race 6 of the series went to Atkins, with Bell in 2nd and Arnell clinging on to 3rd place.

Overall Results:

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Club	PY	R3	R4	R4	R5	Pts
1st	LASER RADIAL	184297	Tim Reid	MSC	1139	1	1	2	4	8
2nd	OK	21	Chris Arnell	CSC	1104	2	2	1	3	8
3rd	EUROPE	351	Pete Bell	HSC	1145	3	4	5	2	14
4th	RS AERO 7 & 9	1490	Graham Platt	HSC	1071	10	DNS	11	6	24
5th	LASER	133424	Mike Greenland	CSC	1097	12	DNS	DNC	DNC	26
6th	LASER RADIAL	205316	Chris Perry	HSC	1139	DNF	DNS	DNC	DNC	28
7th	LASER RADIAL	208469	Hamish Scott Dalgleish	HSC	1139	8	3	7	11	29
8th	LASER RADIAL	723	Lorrian Wells	HSC	1139	9	7	6	7	29
9th	Finn	581	Aley Atkins	CSC		DNC	DNC	4	1	35
10th	LASER RADIAL	178768	Keith Mitchell	CSC	1139	11	8	9	10	38
11th	Laser Std	208853	Jack Acton	CSC		DNC	DNC	3	5	38
12th	LASER	91113	David Burrows	HSC	1097	5.5	6	DNC	DNC	43.5
13th	LASER RADIAL	160012	John Philps	HSC	1139	7	5	DNC	DNC	44
14th	Splash	1118	S Herring	CSC		DNC	DNC	8	8	46
15th	RS VISION	1050	Russell New	CSC	1128	5.5	9	DNC	DNC	46.5
16th	OK	67	Andy Rushworth	CSC	1104	4	DNS	DNC	DNC	50
17th	Splash	741	Ella Miller	CSC		DNC	DNC	12	9	51
18th	Laser Rad	162788	Peter Howard	CSC		DNC	DNC	10	12	52
19th	RS Vision	1050	Russell New	CSC		DNC	DNC	13	14	57
20th	Laser Rad	179672	Richard Hunt	CSC		DNC	DNC	14	13	57
21st	Phantom	1017	Mark Smith	HSC		DNC	DNC	15	15	60