Wednesday XOD Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 17

Mersa wins Lymington XOD Wednesday Series race 17 © RLymYC

Sailing out of the river to the platform start line we were thinking we would struggle to race in light wind conditions and a strong ebbing tide.

Race Officer Roy Froud, assisted by Sinead Joyce and James McGill, set a course mindful of the conditions and the many 'youth week' sailors having fun to the west. The first mark, Colten, could just be laid from both ends of the line with the tide pushing boats up, but a few minutes into the race the fleet (though probably not the Race Officer) was surprised by a new breeze 10 knots stronger and backed by 10 degrees! The boats favouring the starboard-end start faired best, with Nick Froud's Venus rounding the mark first followed closely by John Olliff-Cooper in Excalibur.

The downwind leg against the tide to Pylewell saw the fleet bunching up and those that stayed out for better wind and the more direct line, crept ahead of the pack seeking the shore. Eric Williams sailing Mersa rounded first followed by Chris Torrens in Madcap. The fleet enjoyed some exciting close racing (and a few 'close encounters') in the freshening breeze over the repeated sausage legs between the East River Mark and Pylewell. Mersa stayed in control ahead of Madcap for her third series win in a row while Venus recovered well to consolidate 3rd place and Lone Star closed on Crumpet for a photo finish for equal 4th place.

Race 17 Results: (top three)

1st Mersa - Eric Williams, Joanna Richardson and Max Crowe
2nd Madcap – Chris Torrens, Perdy Light and David Bedford
3rd Venus – Nick Froud, Henri Collison and Magnus Lee

Full Lymington XOD Series Results can be found here.