Lymington XOD Autumn Series - Race 6
by Chris Sanders 24 Oct 2023 23:01 BST
21 October 2023
Lymington XOD Autumn Series race 6 © Mags Norris
A brilliant sunny afternoon in Lymington began with the XOD fleet leaving their pontoons before a passing rain cloud descended over the early departures entering the starting area off the club platform (could this be a warning sign for things to come?).
With a light south westerly force 3 and gentle flood tide, 14 boats from the Lymington fleet were ready for Race Officer Chris Knox to set out the course for the afternoons racing.
The race committee were on top form with a great understanding of the forecast ahead and set a downwind start from the platform to mark 5 off the Isle of Wight coastline.
The fleet spread out, as they homed in on the leeward mark and as a new fresh breeze built from the north west - James Markby (X117) rounded first, with Rory Paton (X161) and Paul Woodman (X119) following close behind.
The next leg was a long tough beat, dominated on starboard tack to + with the breeze building to 18knts and continuing to veer towards the north. X33 (helmed by Simon McCarthy) tacked early at the leeward mark to get out to the middle of the Solent and reaped the rewards as they sailed inside the building right shift and took the lead with X161, X117, X178 (helmed by Eddie Warden Owen), X8 (Martin Sellars) and X78 (Andy Odie) in close pursuit.
It was a nervy downwind leg down to U with everyone jostling for position, apart from X33 who had built a comfortable lead up front after their exceptional beat previously.
It was evident at this stage in the race that the tide had turned earlier than expected as X33 controlled the fleet, finishing at the shortened course at C to take a brilliant win.
The real battles were for 2nd and 3rd and 4th through to 6th, X117 and X161 had an incident on the finish line, X117 crossing the line just ahead. X178 held on for 4th, with X78 and X8 finishing seconds behind in 5th and 6th respectively.
It was a fantastic day on the water and Eddie Warden Owen's comments while sailing in summarised the afternoons sail brilliantly: "A huge congratulations to the race team, that was a superb course and boy, these XOD boats are hard work to sail, but so much fun!"
Results:
1st X33 Simon McCarthy, Mike Crowe and Jeremy Baker
2nd X117 James Markby, David Bedford and Ben Paton
3rd X161 Rory and Amanda Paton and David King
4th X178 Eddie Warden Owen, David Russel Jones and Chris Sanders
5th X78 Andy Oddie, Kev Lindsay and David Duffin
Full results subject to protest can be found at: rlymyc.org.uk/afloat/results/XOD-results