Royal Lymington Yacht Club Nordic Folkboats Saturday Series Race 9
by Chris Baldwick 26 Jul 2017 14:35 BST
R.Lym Nordic Folkboat Saturday Series Race 9 – Saturday 22nd July
Six boats took part in the ninth race of the R.Lym Nordic Folkboat Saturday Series race.
It was a soggy Saturday afternoon on the West Solent - a steady stream of showers with a westerly wind averaging around 19 knots, over an ebbing tide.
A testing course had been set, taking the boats back and forth across the Solent. Padfoot set the pace to Black Rock, with Bonnie, Lady Linda and Jos in close pursuit. At Black Rock there was a choice of hugging the Island shore out of the tide and then crossing back to towards the mainland or returning straight back across the Solent. Pilgrim and Jibe-O kept in shore but the expected advantage did not occur. This allowed Padfoot, and Lady Linda to get away, with Bonnie in hot pursuit towards mark S, (Sanders Sails).
The fleet then sailed out to Lymington Bank before a spinnaker reach towards the mainland and a gybe along the shore to the east. Lady Linda held onto second place, ahead of Bonnie but could not catch Padfoot, who sailed on to win comfortably at the Platform.
Results can be found on the RLymYC website Folkboat section.
Nordic Folkboats at Cowes Classics Week - July 17th to 21st
Five Nordic Folkboats from the West Solent were joined by two International Folkboats for the Charles Stanley Direct Cowes Classics Week Regatta, run by the Royal London Y.C at Cowes.
Unfortunately the weather did not play the game, with virtually no wind on the Monday, and races abandoned on the Thursday and Friday because of too much wind!
Monday saw Paloma find a private puff of breeze that took her out to a commanding lead, only to be overtaken by the Otter on the final leg. However, having had to fend off one of the race marks during the race, Paloma took a penalty to drop to third equal on points.
Tuesday gave the best weather of the series, with the Otter winning from Tak, and Samphire third.
Wednesday proved to be the last race of the Regatta. A long beat to Saltmead with the ebb tide gave the fleet a decision as to the best tactic to get back to South Bramble buoy.
The Otter chose to cross the Solent to the mainland shore, only to see the rest of the fleet hug the Island shore, which proved to be the correct choice.
On the long spinnaker run to the East, Paloma managed to go hard aground just west of Cowes, and the crew had to push her off the rocks.
At the finish, Tak won with The Otter second and Eala Bheag third.
Overall The Otter helmed by Claire Locke won the event with Tak second and Eala Bheag third.