ISO Nationals at Lee-on-the-Solent Sailing Club

Day 1 of 2 – Saturday, about 15 knots but the skies were a bit grey, after a short delay the first race got under way. A very well mannered start saw the fleet off to the first mark. The wind was building as the race went on and the boats spread out as some found the downwind leg livelier that they were use to. Several capsize allowed for some changing of the order by the end of the race. (If that sounds a bit lame account of what happened, I’m sorry, because I was too busy concentrating on not falling over myself to see what everybody else was doing.)

Race 2 and 3 were much the same as the wind was still building and throwing a few gusts as well. More capsizes this time too. But I do remember going past Pete and Marco in both races on the downwind leg, the second time he did not look too happy, but they had just shredded their sheets and could not use the kite (Sorry Pete).

After the first 3 races Andy and Vicky Gould were in the lead with two 1st’s and a 2nd. Mike Lillywhite second with a 1st a 2nd and 7th. George Chambers and Jonathan Wells third with three 3rd places, Dave and Rachel forth with three 4th places. We were pleased with that, showing that we can be consistent and not fall over in some testing conditions.

Sunday started as forecast, sunny and light winds. Race one was a short one as the wind shifted around and started to build, turning it into a leg straight to the wind ward mark followed by a reach to the bottom mark. The Race Officer allowed us to finish then postponed the next race while the course was re-laid. Andy spotted the wind shift and won the race. Mike 2nd and we came in 3rd.

Race two saw the fleet split in to directions, the boats going out on starboard side seemed to come out on top as the tide had started to run out by now. We had a coming together with Bob Ladell on the bottom mark, he mumbled something about the tide not letting him give me mark room that I was entitled to, forcing me the wrong side of the mark to avoid hitting him. I mumbled back something that I cannot write in the report. (Next training day, something about rules please.) As a result we were second to last at the wind ward mark, finally finishing 7th, thanks Bob. Mike won, Andy 2nd and George 3rd. After a very quick relaying of the start line we were in to our last race. A little more wind once more to get us flying down wind once more. With the wind shifting a little and more tide running saw a change at the front this time. George broke his consistency and came in 1st. Marco and Pete found their feet and finished 2nd, Mike 3rd and Andy 4th. That gave a close end to the event only 2 points between Andy and Mike, after all 6 races.

A big thank you to all at the Club for their hard work over the weekend. Over 36 people helped out to run the event, well done to all of them.

Overall Results: