Optimist Spring Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club
by Vicky Leen 13 Apr 2019 18:31 BST
30-31 March 2019
Optimist Spring Series at Lymington © RLymYC
The Optimist Spring series kicked off at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club with Saturday, March 30th forecast showing little hope of racing. Undaunted Race Officer Stuart Childerley thought there was a chance of some thermal induced breeze later in the afternoon.
Initially at 1330hrs there were some good signs that the breeze would develop so the Race Committee headed out to the race area. Then at about 1345hrs we felt confident to launch the boats. The wind filled initially from 140 degrees and then to 220 degrees. The strength stayed around 5 knots for a while whilst the boats headed from the shore to the race area. The Race Committee managed to start the first flight, but the breeze started to show signs of it fading. The second flight start was delayed and then the Race Committee abandoned the race for the first flight as the wind decreased to virtually nothing again. A quick decision was then made to send the boats ashore.
Sunday the wind was 110 degrees at 10-12 knots at start time. There was a delay because the launch process and sail to the race area took longer than expected. Race 1 started first time for both flights and the first boat finished at 51 minutes, a little over the target time. The ebbing tide was causing some of the fleet issues, whilst they tried to master the Solent conditions. The Race Committee Whisky finished a number of boats in race 1.
Race 2 started soon after in winds of 12-14 knots at 110 degrees, the ebb tide was beginning to fade. As we started race 3 the flood tide had begun to be a considerable factor in the race area and caused many boats to misjudge the effect it had on them, causing a high number of boats to be Black Flag disqualified after the first start attempts using U flag were general recalled. The wind held relatively steady for the day and the last race saw 120 degrees at 12-14 knots with blue skies.
Overall Results: