Wildwind Wednesdays at Lymington Town Sailing Club - Race 6
by Various 23 May 2018 06:37 BST
10 May 2018
Race 6 of the LTSC Wildwind Wednesday night series lived up to its name with a gusty north-easterly breeze averaging 16 knots. The wind against tide conditions made the sea very lumpy and uncomfortable.
Despite the conditions and very low tide 29 boats crossed the start line. In the Class 3 Medium single handers fleet 16 boats started on a course that saw them round Oakhaven mark, Colten, Scott Bailey and Black & Orange before finishing at the Club line. Of the 16 starters half the fleets finished. Stuart Watson won on handicap in his Hadron H2 followed by Keith Willis in the RS Aero 7. Third place went to George Thompson (Laser) who pipped William Homewood (RS Aero 5) in a 'photo finish' by just 1 second.
For the Double handers in Class 2 Richard Russell & Sylvia Weger had a great reaching start in the Tasar to establish and early lead. A short close encounter between two merlin Rockets and a 420 saw one of the Merlins drop their spinnaker and do penalty turns soon after the start. A series of reaches saw the Tasar pull away, hotly pursued by the Merlin Rocket of Neville Herbert and Karl Thorne to Colton mark.
Some found the journey to Colton easier than others and the 420s were snapping at the heels of the leaders. A series of windward leawards and a blast back up the river enabled Herbert to pull away for line honours, only to lose out to the very fast 420 sailed by James and Harry George, which won by a minute on corrected time. Third place went to Russell & Weger in the Tasar.
Full series results