Poole Bay Winter Series - Day 3
by Parkstone YC Poole Bay Winter Series 24 Oct 2018 12:29 BST
21 October 2018
Class 2 start on day 3 of the Poole Bay Winter Series © Parkstone YC Poole Bay Winter Series
Crews were greeted with a bright morning and a light offshore breeze for the third day of the Poole Bay Winter Series on Sunday 21st October.
With a flood tide and little breeze inside the harbour, the PRO, Dick Linford, wisely decided to move the first start outside the harbour into Poole Bay, where a firmer northerly breeze had established. The two fleets enjoyed two races using windward/leeward courses, again beating into the famous Sandbanks beach. In Class 1, Esprit, Neil Vardy's Elan 410 made the best start on port tack, crossing behind MS Amlin Enigma (MG 346) and Amigos (Archambault A35), both of which tacked on to port after the gun. Esprit led at the windward mark and set off under spinnaker on starboard gybe.
MS Amlin Enigma and Amigos followed on starboard gybe, but Space 8 (J/109) chose port, reaching parallel with the beach and gaining some relief from the west-going tide. At the end on the run, it was clear that Space 8's strategy had paid off, as they rounded first, with Esprit in close pursuit. Esprit managed to pass Space 8 to take the lead, which they held until the top mark, where the course was shortened. Third on the water was MS Amlin Enigma, with Amigos in fourth. On corrected time, MS Amlin Enigma was sufficiently close to the leading boats to win, from Space 8 in second, Esprit in third and Amigos in fourth.
In Class 2, with the pin end of the line favoured, three of the fleet – Rum Juggernaut (MG 27), Matchmaker II (Contention 33) and It's Now or Never (Beneteau First 260) – lined up for a port-tack-flyer, but undershot in the light wind and tide running right to left across the course. Firebird (Impala 28) made a good start on starboard, and Elanor (Elan 31) sailed clean and clear to come second off the start, followed by Matchmaker, It's Now or Never and Rum Juggernaut.
After a couple of clearing tacks most boats sailed to the lay line and tacked to starboard, poles up, and hoisted on the mark. The lack of apparent wind bunched everyone up, and an unwillingness to go too far down tide meant everyone clung on to their starboard poles too long and too deep, rather than gybing once or twice to lay the mark. Coming away from the mark spaced everyone back out, and it was again a port-tack biased beat, with a shortened course at the windward mark. Peter Norman's Firebird finished first, with Elanor in second and Matchmaker in third on the water. On corrected, Firebird won by over 2 minutes, from Matchmaker in second, Elanor in third and Rum Juggernaut in fourth.
By this time the temperature had risen to the mid-teens and bright sunshine lit up Poole Bay creating a spectacular setting for race two.
In Class 1, after a good start at the pin end of the line, Amigos found more upwind speed and were able to pull ahead to be first at the windward mark, from Esprit and MS Amlin Enigma. For the downwind leg, Amigos and MS Amlin Enigma chose the inshore port gybe, while Esprit and Space 8 chose starboard gybe. As in the first race, port gybe proved favoured and Amigos was first to the leeward mark, with MS Amlin Enigma around 2 minutes behind in second, Esprit in third and Space 8 in fourth. The race was again shortened at the top mark, with on-the-water positions unchanged. On corrected time, MS Amlin again won, from Amigos, Esprit and Space 8 in fourth.
In Class 2, Rum Juggernaut made a good start in the middle of the line but Matchmaker, with its large overlapping genoa, powered over the top from behind. Firebird found clear air, while Elanor and It's Now or Never slowed each other at the left end of the line.
Downwind, a veer in the wind favoured an early gybe at the back of the fleet, but technical issues prevented Rum Juggernaut consolidating with a gybe back. Elanor and Matchmaker held out to the right of the run, on a parallel course while on opposite gybes. These two benefited from a late back in the wind, bringing them back close to Firebird for the match race on the final beat to the finish. The first three boats finished within 50 seconds of each other, with Matchmaker in first, Elanor in second and the much lower-rated Firebird in third. On corrected, Firebird won its second race of the day, with Matchmaker in Second, the Elan 31 Elanor in third and It's Now or Never in fourth.
Although light winds dominated racing, crews were happy to have completed two excellent races and to have been out in Poole Bay on such a beautiful morning. With 6 races completed in the series and with the first discard applied, MS Amlin Enigma leads Class 1 with 5 points and Elanor leads Class 2 with 11 points. The Poole Bay Winter Series resumes next Sunday for Races 7 and 8.