XOD Autumn Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Race 1

Lymington XODs' Autumn series got underway on one of those glorious autumn days where the light has a special quality, illuminating the land features such that the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth is clearly visible from Lymington, and with enough warmth in the air for Nick Froud to still be wearing shorts!

The light north-easterly breeze was forecast to drop off and veer southwards, casting doubt on the proposed 'long race east', so race officer Malcom McKeag and his team wisely compromised with some loops to the east with opportunities for shortening the course if needed.

Cleanest away from the start at opposite ends were Ibex and Venus who were able to get out into the faster running flood tide and rounded the first mark G(Tanners) with XL between them, then Zest. Most boats headed over to the mainland shore to escape the tide on the run back to river mark Z and the biggest gains were made by those bravest enough to run closest to the mud.

Racing remained close on the beat back up to G and run back to Z with timing of gybes off the bank critical, Ibex executed this just right and emerged with clear air for the final beat up to E (FolkboatsUK) in front of XL who just nudged out Venus and Madcap. A windward boat infringement between the latter two forced a 360' penalty turn for Madcap allowing Zest to round ahead of her and X-Ray just behind. The final run back to the river mark squeezed the boats together despite the tide slackening and the light north-easterly hanging on just long enough for competitors to complete the full course. Ibex maintained her lead ahead of XL and Venus, but both Madcap and Zest gained enough to get inside Venus at the mark. The tight gybe onto a shy reach to the river finish saw Madcap just squeeze her nose in front of Zest with Venus unfortunately caught in dirty air, allowing X-ray to sail through as well.

Race 1 Results:

1st Ibex; Paul Woodman & Ollie James
2nd XL; Rory & Stuart Paton, Jonny Tait
3rd Madcap; Chris Torrens, David Bedford, Oliver Light
4th Zest; Phil & Jo Brewer, Debbie Miles
5th X-Ray; Stuart Jardine, Robin Balme, Doug Rogerson
6th Venus; Nick & Roy Froud

Course: G(p), Z(p), G(p), Z(p), E(p), Z(s) River finish.