Light winds at the Pwllheli Autumn challenge series
by Vicky Cox 14 Oct 14:25 BST
11-12 October 2025
It's been a challenging series so far for many reasons. A weekend of heavy weather resulting in one day lost due to heavy winds, one weekend with both heavy and light winds and this, a very light weekend with only three out of the four races manageable.
Saturdays racing was AP'd with only 1kt registered by Race officer Robin Evans on the Pwllheli Sailing Club bridge. Gradually wind filled in on the water, with wind occasionally gusting to 7kts but with patches and big shifts Mojito were caught out in the starting area and were last to start by the time the gun went as the bulk of the fleet bunched on the line.
Meanwhile Mojito Bach, late to the starting area, had to nose the line from the opposite direction before pirouetting to join the race, a tactic that put them briefly up with the leaders Andromeda, Sgrech and Darling before the bigger boats passed and took their breeze.
Will Partington's A35 Andromeda got the best start but forcing a starboard boat to avoid them resulted in turns which then resulted in them also hitting the first mark due to the strong tide.
More turns and they slipped back to 5th by the finish. Despite their slow start, Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox's Mojito took line honours but with some very close racing, they had to settle for 2nd on corrected, 18 seconds behind Mark Thompson and team on J70 Sgrech and just 13 seconds ahead of Darling.
Nigel Ingram's XP33 Darling with just him and his two sons, Harry and Matthew onboard, were enjoying the light conditions, made obvious by their 1st place in the second race.
However, with winds fading, only three other boats were able to finish with Paul Sutton's Lightning taking the last finishing place and everyone else was forced to retire.
Sunday's forecast of even less wind meant that racing was thought to be optimistic. However, wind seemed to fill in just enough for the warning signal to get the race under way. For Mojito Bach, the winds weren't enough for them to get to the start line in time and they were forced to watch the fleet head along the beach to racing mark number 1 as they struggled to get over the start.
Once there, it was obvious that the rest of the fleet were also struggling to make the first mark. Only Andromeda had made good progress with Mojito behind them. However it looked like they had both fallen into a hole at the next mark. The rest of the fleet struggled as soon as they rounded mark number 1 and, with kites collapsed, had been taken west with the strengthening tide.
With more wind to the east, Mojito Bach were able to round close to the first mark, hoist and fill the kite, which took them speeding past the stationary fleet at almost 4kts. However, inevitably they fell into the wind hole that Mojito and Andromeda had found at the next mark.
As wind filled in again from the west, those floating west caught the breeze first and were able to head back towards the second mark. Breeze reached Mojito Bach along with both Paul&Sam Kitteringham's Elan 350 Finally and Darling who both eclipsed the J70. Not able to utilise the brief gusts left Mojito Bach sitting in tide pushing them back from the mark forced to watch the rest of the fleet round it to head back in ashore. With course shortened, for most it was just a matter of getting back to the finish but that in itself was a challenge and some boats took over two and a half hours to get there.
Both J70s complained that they suffered with the strong tide pushing their bow round and stalling the boats. Mojito Bach, made several attempts to get back to the mark every time a gust came through, only to float back in the tide as soon as the wind shut off and they never made it round the second mark before being timed out. At the front of the fleet, Mojito took line honours but Darling took first on corrected with Andromeda taking the last of the podium spots.
With the water in the bay like a mirror, and no wind seen further out of the bay either, race officer Robin Evans was forced to call an end to racing and everyone headed back to Plas Heli for refreshments and results.
Mojito are still hanging on to first overall but results are close. All to play for on the last weekend of the Pwllheli Autumn Challenge Series which is in two weeks time on the 25th&26th October. Results and more information for anyone wanting to enter the last weekend or join a boat as crew please visit the club website at www.pwllhelisailingclub.co.uk/index.php/club-sections/racing