Anglesey Offshore Dinghy Race at Red Wharf Bay Sailing and Watersports Club
by Steve Norris 13 Aug 2018 18:57 BST
12 August 2018
Anglesey Offshore Dinghy Race © The Foto Guys
Competitors arrived on Beaumaris Green on the Sunday morning with the promise of a South Westerly Force 3 to 4, and with prospect of a fantastic sail round the North East coast of Anglesey to the Red Wharf Bay SWC finish line at Traeth Bychan.
By the time the fleet had assembled on the Royal Anglesey line at 1100hrs, the wind had vanished and the rain and mist descended. There was still an hour and a half of foul tide to run in the Menai Straits. Many boats failed to cross the start line in the allotted 10minutes, being washed towards Bangor. The successful boats picked their way close along the Beaumaris sea wall and into Fryars Bay.
Two boats got clear away; picking their way through the weaker tides and making the most of the slight winds that came and went. First out of the pack was the Laser of Peter Hallitt, closely followed by Red Wharf Bays own Anna Carpenter, crewed by brother, David. Anna had only arrived at 0100hrs, straight from the Sailing World Championships event in Denmark.
After about 2 hours it became clear that there was no wind in Red Wharf Bay, and it was decided not to continue around the coast. The race was shortened in Puffin Sound, which was unprecedented in the 53years of the event.
The first monohull, and first in the slow handicap fleet was the Laser of Peter Hallitt of Pennine Sailing Club. First in the fast handicap fleet was the RS400 of Anna and David Carpenter, from Red Wharf Bay. The winning Catamaran was the Prindle 16 of Dave and Julie Cocker of Red Wharf Bay.