Teignmouth Yacht Regatta Pursuit Race
by Steve Pococks 15 Aug 2018 06:38 BST
10-11 August 2018
Blue water and a brisk sailing wind marked the beginning of the pursuit race. Race Officer Steve Pocock set the course with a reach past mark E and on to mark D a gybe and another reach to mark M and a beat back to A and the start line, repeated until the 90 minutes were up.
Snowstorm, under white sails only, held the lead for the first lap during which time the wind had shifted making the reach from the start line to mark D much tighter. Mini Mayhem and Majic stayed under white sails but Juno set her asymmetric kite in an attempt to gain an advantage. With Mini Mayhem closing, Snowstorm held the lead for the first half of the leg to D but eventually Mayhem overtook. Once round D, Mini Mayhem's speed under spinnaker showed and she extended her lead which led her to eventually win the pursuit race.
Saturday dawned grey, wet and windier and Tom Dunstan from Exmouth sailing a Hunter Horizon 26 Lucina joined us. With visibility of a mile the first race was a 2 lap sprint around mark E and out to the Sewer Buoy (sailing isn't always glamorous), and back to mark A and the start-finish line.
For the final race, the course was Marks E, D, M, B, A all to port for 3 laps. The wind picked up and a band of poor visibility (rain) blocked the view out to sea. The Race Officer took pity and shortened the race to two laps with Mini Mayhem finishing in 1 hour 34 minutes and Coral 7 minutes later. The final results of the three races were a series win for Paul Craft on Mini Mayhem, Second for Coral, Third for Majic and a gallant 4th for Lucina.