Plymouth Gin Spring Series at Royal Plymouth Corinthian YC

The long-awaited "real wind" finally arrived this Sunday for the third and penultimate race of the RPCYC's Plymouth Gin Spring Series. A 15 to 20 knot northwesterly breeze produced a slight swell in the course area, half a mile south of the Breakwater, and conditions were perfect for some really exciting sailing. All was going well, until a few seconds into the starting sequence, when an unidentified boat managed to completely destroy the pin end mark by sailing over the top of it. The ground-tackle went to the bottom and the buoy headed for France. Unable to re-construct the buoy in time, a rather apprehensive mark boat crew hoisted flag 'M' and manoeuvred into position to take its place as the show went on regardless.

All fleets got away cleanly and boats quickly split left and right across the first beat. The right side seemed to attract the biggest crowd and in the prevailing conditions it did not take long for the Multihull and IRC fleets to cover their two mile beat. A mass of spinnakers appeared on the horizon as they rounded the windward mark and began rocking and rolling their way down a fairly exciting looking offwind leg.

Sailing the smaller course, the J24 and PYS fleets also made short work of their first lap and with all the fleets sailing 30 minute laps, it was a well mixed bunch that descended on the leeward mark for the first time. At this point, several spinnakers seemed to express a preference for wrapping themselves around the masthead, rather than dropping back into their bags and this produced the first few retirements of the day.

Towards the end of the second round, a number of fairly gusty squalls started to make an appearance. As they tracked down the race course they gave a good indication of what the wind had in mind for the afternoon. It was veering by about 10 degrees in the gusts and by the third round, this shift had increased to 20 degrees and become permanent. The beat was now quite one-sided but still working fairly well thanks to the ebbing tide.

Competition was as fierce as ever in the IRC fleet, with "Krush" and "Exocet" taking joint second, but it was Rob Gateshill's "White Knuckles" that ran away with the race, finishing a comfortable five minutes ahead of "Krush" and "Exocet" on corrected time.

In PYS it was Vernon Pike's "Rumpleteazer" that revelled in the windy conditions, leaving two-time winner "First Sight" to pick up second place and "La Bonne Vie" to scoop third.

The J24 battle was as ever, hotly contested. This week the protest flags stayed furled and once again it was Ron Lee's "Fuzzy Duck" that took the winner's gun, two minutes ahead of "St James" and "Wave Warrior" who came home with only two seconds (and a lot a cheering) separating them.

In the Multihulls, something of a turnover result saw Simon Baker's "Brian" finishing three minutes ahead of Andy Parritt in "Electra".

Overall Results:

More Information:

• Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club

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