XOD Wednesday Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 11
by John Olliff-Cooper 5 Jul 2018 16:23 BST
4 July 2018
Wind mainly Southerly Force 2-3, Course C,F,Pi, Finish. Twice round.
A short postponement by race officer Derek Tilley allowed a light sea breeze to establish itself for Wednesday's Lymington XOD race, under strangely overcast skies.
The best starts were made from the ODM and staying a little offshore paid dividends heading up to the windward mark, Colten - despite the remains of a flooding tide against the fleet.
First around was Yarmouth's James Meaning sailing Vexilla, followed by Zest, then Annex: those three turning just ahead of the pack. Two reaching legs to Berthon then Pylewell Inner saw Zest squeeze past Vexilla for the beat back up to Colten. However, Vexilla sailed an efficient course, maintaining her speed, and rounded Colten clear ahead. Ibex closed in on Zest and then sailing over her on the next downwind leg, and Claire De Lune (X33) then followed suit, as the wind dropped off again.
Eventually the breeze freshened again and with the tide now ebbing at a fair lick that combination produced a quick-paced (for an XOD) windward sprint to the finish with the first three boats finishing within seconds of each other.
Race 11 Results: (top four)
1st Vexilla (James Meaning & Mark Lacey)
2nd Ibex (Paul Woodman & Ollie James)
3rd Claire de Lune (Max Crowe, Ollie Tait, Seb Ayris)
4th Zest (Phil & Jo Brewer)
Full results can be found here.