Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series - Day 8
by Jamie Blair 3 Mar 10:29 GMT
26 February 2023
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 8 © Fiona Blair
The morning began with 18 Knots and some gust up to 20 knots all from the NE. With the chill factor clearly going to affect the sailors, the course was set as a pseudo Sail GP shape with a reaching start and then a triangle sausage.
Nine yacht racers huddled behind the café building ready to race. A terminal retirement saw Jon Moon's boat with no chance of repair, so he took up the roll of RO.
The first leg and start was going to be about time on distance and feathering the C rig in the gusts. Jamie Blair (51) was first to master this and took the first race.
Race 2 saw Tim Townsend (45) have the best start and lead at the first mark. Two OCS but with the strong wind clawing back places was always possible. After race 2 an extra triangle was added and didn't deter Tim repeating his success in Race 3, 4, 5.
By race 4 the breeze had really taken hold with gusts over 20 knots. The D rig was broken out.
Even with the small sail there was many keels showing not only in the downwind legs but also on the reaches.
All of the sailors had their good and bad moments - am I able to tack, do I do a gybe instead?
At the break Tim was a clear leader with Jamie and Lucian Stone (75) chasing the second place. Behind them Mark Penny (03) and Tony Alexander (04).
After race 7 the wind abated and a lot of the fleet changed back to C rigs. Jamie, Mark and were part of the few that stayed with the D rig but fell behind the rest of the fleet. Lucian elected to put on the B rig as the wind did drop to just over 12 knots.
Race 9 saw the fleet decimated, looking like swans showing their undercarriage and only 4 finishers.
The wind was now showing just short of 40 knots. Along with this and an approaching rain cloud the vote was taken to come ashore and call it a day.
Tim had show everyone his heels all morning and with a margin of 7 points.
Our next set of races will be on Sunday 5th March 2023.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 45 | Tim Townsend | ‑2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 2nd | 51 | Jamie Blair | 1 | ‑3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ‑5 | 2 | 13 |
| 3rd | 75 | Lucian Stone | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | ‑7 | (DNF) | 24 |
| 4th | 3 | Mark Penny | 4 | ‑6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | (DNF) | 28 |
| 5th | 32 | Roger Gibb | (DNC) | (DNC) | DNC | 7 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 36 |
| 6th | 4 | Tony Alexander | 5 | 7 | (DNC) | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | (DNF) | 36 |
| 7th | 76 | Bob Woolford | 7 | 5 | 4 | 6 | (DNF) | ‑8 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 41 |
| 8th | 62 | Spencer Pope | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 | (DNF) | 6 | 7 | 4 | (DNF) | 41 |