Some 293 boats
of the 364 registered entries, signed afloat on the second day of the 60th
Chichester Harbour Race Week at Hayling Island Sailing Club. Today series
A and B sailors were greeted with a solid Force 4 from 245°.
However, the forecast was for the wind to veer towards the north west and
increase to Force 5.
For Series A & B, port hand courses for a 260° wind were set to cover the possibility of the veer during the race. With start lines close to Copyhold, the windward marks were laid in the vicinity of the green Pilsey mark near the Hayling moorings, the gybe marks were on the middle of the Winner bank and the leeward marks down by the Camber pole. With a strong current against the beat, tactically it paid both the Series A and Series B fleets to work the shifts on the shallow Pilsey sands until they picked up the strong lee bow current flowing down the Emsworth channel. With that many boats racing on the sands it was rather busy out there! The predicted shift from 245° to 280° degrees came in under a black squally cloud as most of the boats began their last lap giving some exhilarating reaches and a few capsizes, particularly at the gybe mark on the Winner.
With the windier conditions there were notable performances
from certain boats. In particular the
Fireball sailed by Nick Rees and Evelyne Schotte won by a handsome margin, and
the 4000 sailed by Doug and Charlie Baker stomped home to a massive 5 minute
win on corrected time in the Slow Asymmetric fleet.
They were so fast the race team thought they were in the Fast Asymmetric! In the Finns Richard Sharp’s 4th
place keeps him as overnight leader, but only one point ahead of Martin Hughes
(Warsash) who led the fleet across the finish line today.
In Series B, the Laser Stratos sailed by Nick Martin and Rob
Brown (Portchester) claimed victory on corrected time, with yesterday’s winner,
Tom Morris in his Europe second, and Jerome Baker in his ILCA (HISC) third.
In the Aero 5s Debbie Caldwell’s third place keeps her as class
leader, but only one point ahead of both Rosie Berry and Sarah Smith. In the
2000s, Ben Oakley and Barbara Langford (ESC) took the gun to become fleet leaders
from Jonathan and Matthew Bailey from Weir Wood.
Race 3 on Course C got away in a good 13-15knot breeze, the
Tera’s making short work of it, led by Ella Gardiner (ESC), chased hard by
Lauren Buckel (MRSC) and Henry Highman (HISC). The trio led the fleet around the
course finishing without any change in places; whilst further down the fleet
Catherine Davies (Bowmore SC), Oliver Gardiner (ESC) and Richard Hewitt (HISC) battled over 4th, which went Richard's way at the finish.
Meanwhile in the Oppi fleet the front was tight, with 3
leaders during the race, Robbie Mayo (Lymingtown SC) led on lap 1, Iain Coward
(HISC) taking the lead for laps 2 and 3, only for Luke Moore (HISC) to come through
for the win.
With Race 4 for the Teras underway, Ella Gardiner (ESC) leading, a squall came through flattening many of the fleet, whilst the Oppi race was in its start sequence. With all support boats tied up, the Oppi race was abandoned, leaving the Teras to finish their lap. Ella Gardiner (ESC) came home 1st, chased by Matilda White (Bowmore SC) and Lauren Buckel (MRSC) 3rd.
A
tough day afloat for some!
Robert Macdonald
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