XOD Saturday Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 12
by Roger Wilson 10 Jul 2018 05:24 BST
7 July 2018
Thankfully the lack of wind encountered by the large fleet taking part in the annual Round the Island race had been surpassed by a sea breeze from the south west averaging 12 knots by the time seventeen XODs from the Lymington Division came to the start line for their 2pm race.
Race Officer Alastair Wilson and his team set a course avoiding a large dinghy regatta. Expeditious (Jamie Markby) led at the first mark Colten from Ibex (Paul Woodman), XL (Rory Paton) and Venus (Nik Froud). The fleet then continued to Pennington buoy against the incoming tide before crossing to Black Rock buoy off the Yarmouth shore. From there the fleet crossed back over the Solent to Tanners mark off the mainland shore. Venus lost her 4th place to Xoanon (Roger Wilson) early on in this leg. Further marks of Berthon and Pylewell were set before the final windward leg to the finish at the platform. The first four held their positions whilst behind there was some very close racing, with several place changes.
A former Mayor of Lymington (Barry Dunning) was guesting aboard Expiditious but said afterwards that he learned nothing during this race. After putting his own boat aground in the previous race and finishing well down the fleet, fellow sailors were certain that he learned that going aground rarely wins races, whereas as staying in front does!
Full series results can be found here.