Spencers Estate Agents Royal Lymington Yacht Club Thursday Night Early Series - Day 6
by Vicky Leen 31 May 2019 22:03 BST
30 May 2019
Spencers Estate Agents Royal Lymington Yacht Club Thursday Night Early Series day 6 © RLymYC
A 19 knot SW breeze greeted the fleet for the 6th race of RLymYC Thursday Evening Racing, sponsored by Spencers Estate Agents. Gusts of 25 knots gave the sailors plenty to do, although a flood tide prevented the short seas becoming to choppy. Course setting for the Race Team was less challenging than some earlier weeks as the breeze was forecast to continue till dusk.
Six IRC Class One yachts were out, including the Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster making her first appearance in the series. The Race Officer set a course of 9 miles taking the yachts to Chewton Glen as a windward mark, then downwind to Solent Bank. Jelly Baby was the only yacht to elect for a port tack start, but it was Scarlet Oyster who relished the windy conditions to lead round the top mark and the whole way to the finish. She held her time to win by 3.5 mins on corrected time. The two J105s, Jelly Baby and Jin Tonic took second and third respectively.
IRC Class Two saw just five yachts competing. The strong breeze suited Rory Heron and Dan Snow's classic Swan 37 Mojitabel which punched her way to the top mark first. All five yachts held spinnakers downwind which were smartly recovered at the bottom mark. White Mischief weaved her way through the Folkboat fleet neatly to take the win by a little over a minute, followed by Colleen and Gravity, just six seconds apart.
The J80s were expecting some exciting downwind conditions, and were not disappointed. No Regrets elected for an ambitious port tack start, only to be protested by Wild Cat who felt she had been infringed. On the downwind leg from Chewton Glen boats were reporting speeds of 14 knots before Traffic Jam fluffed her spinnaker drop, losing several places. At the finish, it was a win (subject to protest) for No Regrets, followed by Traffic Jam who had made a good recovery.
Twenty Nordic Folkboats came to the start. Bonnie came out best on the first short beat and held Crackerjack in second place to the downwind mark. However, Crackerjack's better boatspeed proved superior and she took her fifth win in six races to dominate the series. Bonnie held on for second with Padfoot taking third.
Michael Carrington's Sweden 45 Susimi continued to show the Lymington handicap fleet the way, recording a third win in the series, this time by 6.5 minutes. Red Kite and Crinian fought a close battle round the 8 mile course to take second and third place respectively.
Two thirds of the races for the early series have now been completed. The final results in some classes are still quite open, but it may prove difficult to catch Crackerjack in the Nordic class.
Series results so far can be found here.