All smiles at the end of the Pwllheli Winter Series
by Vicky Cox 13 Dec 2021 08:15 GMT
11-12 December 2021
All smiles on Mojito for the last weekend of the Pwllheli Winter Series © Ian Jones
It was a little misty at Pwllheli for the last races of the winter series but there were plenty of smiles with everyone keen to get more points before packing up for Christmas.
Despite storm Bara moving all of the sand dunes from along the beach onto the road and houses along the parade, all racing marks were still on station and race officer Robin Evans was able to set a course.
Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox's J109 - Mojito got off to a very good start, keen to retake the series lead from Paul Suttons J109 - Jaydreamer who were leading by just half a point. Jaydreamer had fantastic upwind speed and certainly kept Mojito on their toes, accompanied closely by Paul Kitteringham's Elan 350 - Finally and closely followed by Mark Rosenthal's Flair IV.
With an uncomfortable sea state and increasing winds up to 22 kts, there weren't many kites flown on the downwind leg, allowing Mojito to pull ahead, but a rather ambitious calculation of angles at the leeward mark saw Mojito try to hold their kite upwind to the finish.
Eventually they reverted to jib but Jaydreamer were already coming into the finish at speed and it resulted in a tied finish. Handicap meant that Mojito took first on corrected time, Jaydreamer second by just 4 seconds and Finally third just one minute later. With some very close racing, John Roberts's Percy had a fine race, finishing just 6 minutes behind the leading IRC1 boats to take first in IRC 2.
All crews enjoyed the racing and with great camaraderie between boats, a get together with drinks and pizzas was organised onboard Percy, and a crew supper at the local Indian restaurant.
Sundays racing was uncertain, with winds forecast to be gusting into the 40's. Crews agreed to make an assessment first thing as to whether conditions were safe enough. Luckily, conditions were stable at 15-22kts and with just half a point in it for the series, everyone was keen to run the last race.
The start line was busy, with Finally getting the best start, closely followed by Mojito and Jaydreamer but Mojito seemed to find their speed and gradually pulled ahead. No kites on the downwind leg. Finally were able to pull back some ground lost upwind but second time around the course and Mojito decided that the wind had dropped sufficiently to hoist the kite and were speeding away from the rest of the fleet finishing over two minutes ahead and taking first overall to win the Winter Series.
Jaydreamer took second and second overall in the series with Finally taking third. Meanwhile in IRC 2, Percy took first but had to settle for IRC2 second in the series behind Wil Partington's Hunter - Honey Bee. Suspicious Minds took third place in the series in IRC 2.
Although that's the end of official racing for 2021, the camaraderie continues with many boats planning to meet for a friendly race or two between Christmas and New Year if weather permits. Anyone interested in joining in, whether racing their own boat or crewing for someone else over Christmas should make their intentions known by emailing or messaging on the Racing WhatsApp
Group.
Racing at Pwllheli Sailing Club then restarts in 2022 with a light-hearted tuning weekend on the 2nd/3rd April and we look forward to another great season of sailing.
Full results and racing information can be found on the club website at pwllhelisailingclub.co.uk