RLymYC Ocean Safety Thursday Night Racing Late Series - Day 9

RLymYC Ocean Safety Thursday Night Racing Late Series day 9 © RLymYC

With the top spots for the series still open, keen competitors drifted down the river in only five knots of wind, in case their fleet managed a start. Experienced race officers Jenny and Roger Wilson conjured up short courses which most boats completed, ensuring an exciting finale to a magical summer's racing, where not a single race was lost to the weather.

Starting into the light westerly wind on the last of the ebb tide, a clean start was essential and most boats enjoyed a gentle beat to their windward marks with the tide adding to the apparent wind strength. Turning downwind and down tide, the opposite was true. Boats mainly headed inshore, out of the tide as far as possible, and the handicap fleet races became something of a lottery.

The J/80 is a relatively light boat with a large sail plan and this strong one-design fleet enjoyed close racing all season. Tactically, they could choose whether to head inshore, or to sail the shorter direct distance in more tide. On the final run the tide was turning, so those who chose the shorter distance prevailed with Simon Cameron's Juno slipping first over the line. The series belonged to Oliver Dunford & Shane Armitage on Purple Haze, closely followed by Toby Collyer on Traffic Jam with Chris & Hannah Neve on No Regrets in third place.

In contrast, the Nordic Folkboat is a heavy boat with a small spinnaker and it struggled downwind in the light airs. A good tidal strategy was vital and once again Stuart Watson and Matthew Barr on Crackerjack showed how it is done. They comfortably won the series with Claire Sowry, in her first season on Mistral, in second and fleet captain Chris Baldwick's Bonnie third.

RLymYC's IRC 1 fleet mainly comprises closely matched light cruiser racers, albeit some sporting symmetrical spinnakers and others with bowsprit kites. David Gough's Elan 333, Aventurera, was both first over the line and first on handicap on Thursday. Ray Crouch's Boomerang tested the accuracy of its depth gauge and one or two others were slowed as the mud polished the bottom of their keels. No one boat dominated the season, although Mark Broadway on Fidelitas, an Elan 37, put together the best series. He was followed by Boomerang and then William Newton on his J/105, Jelly Baby.

The IRC 2 fleet is more mixed and the lighter sports boats thrived in the conditions. Rick Otten & Jon Boyd on their Corby 25, Kit Off, scored the bullet this week and were third overall for the series, behind the Hanse 291, White Mischief, of Andy Hind in first and Alan Hill's J/30 Colleen in second.

It is a similar story for the LAH 1 and LAH 3 handicap fleets. Stuart Duffin on a fully powered up Flying Boat won LAH 1 on the night, whilst Richard Young's J/100, Charlotte won the series. Close behind was the similarly named Charlotte of Lymington, a Jeaneau 35, sailed by Peter Blick and a large crew, and Robert Young's Dehler 28, Ok Yah.

Nine boats in LAH 3 squeezed over the line before the time limit. Andrew Pearson's modified Hunter 707, Spike, relished the conditions and soundly beat the heavier boats. However, in the series overall, the heavier boats were well represented, the winner being Sarah & Ross Appleby's Contessa 26, High Potential. Richard Truscott on Unity, a Westerly Consort was in second and Richard Rouse's Gaff Cutter Fox Hound was in third. It is gratifying to see how close the final scores are amongst these three different boats.

Full race and series results can be found here.