Wildwind Wednesdays at Lymington Town Sailing Club - Race 5

Wildwind Wednesday race 5 at Lymington Town © Louise Johnson

With 15 to 18 knots south westerly, sunshine and the tide just starting to ebb, you could say it was another week of near perfect conditions for Race 5 of the Wildwind Wednesday's at LTSC.

After last week's naughtiness in starting from Class 2, the RO's were delighted to see all four classes behave well, some may say even a tad line shy as everyone got away heading out the river clean.

The gust in the river caused for an exciting trip for Classes 1, 2 and 3 to JB, where they would each start a windward/leeward course, heading up to BHG Marine and Scot Bailey to the west of the river, and down to Pylewell Inner and Folkboats UK in the east.

The runs proved a little challenging for some, with big gains (and losses) to be made. In Class 2 the Merlin Rockets of Neville Herbert sailing with Alex Hayman, followed by John Cooper and Becci Wiggly, showed nerve holding the kites and gybing their way down the Solent. Some in all fleets may have taken a swim but we won't name names! In Class 3, Robbie Boyd in his Laser showed his confidence in these conditions, playing the waves and angles downwind.

Peter Barton decided to give the rest of the fleet a chance and took an uncharacteristic swim whilst clearing his centreboard of weed on the run, a slow but entertaining recovery followed with Peter sailing downwind with one leg in the boat and the other hanging out the back. Meanwhile David Ellis having picked the correct weapon for the conditions was starting to look very comfortable in his Aero 5 rig.

As all four fleets starting to head up the river, the wind eased, and first home was Dougal Harris in his Formula 18 having been out for 47 mins. All Class 4 boats finished, comprising for three LR Scows and a Gull, finished an orderly fashion within 1mins 30 of each other. The final boat home was the Vareo of Nick Lawrie, who was out for 1hr 16 mins. Maybe a slightly optimistic RO on the course for them?!

In Class 1 it was Rear Commodore Sailing Nigel Walbank taking the win in his Musto Skiff, from Toby Collyer in his RS700 in second, and Kevin Podger and Heather Chipperfield in their RS400 in third.

In Class 2, first place went to Richard Russell and Sylvia Weger in their Tasar, followed by Neville Herbert and Alex Hayman in their Merlin Rocket second, with Matt and John Levell in the RS Venture in third.

Class 3 saw Robby Boyd take the win from the RS Aeros, with David Ellis Aero 5 in second and third to Simon Maguire in his Aero 7.

Class 4 saw the LR Scows take the top 3 spots with Sylvia Pepin leading the way, followed by Jon Sims in second, Peter Wills in third.

Thanks to the rescue crew who had a bit going on at times, and to our on-the-water reporters Richard Lilley, Becci Wiggly and Ben George.

Full series results