Royal Lymington Yacht Club Duo Race
by Hannah Neve 3 May 2011 10:41 BST
29 April 2011
Tricky, light conditions at the start of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club's inaugural double-handed race © Phil Baker
22 boats lined up on Friday (Royal Wedding Day) at 2.30 for the club’s inaugural double-handed race. Started after requests from both experienced double-handers and novices alike, the series comprises 5 passage style races on 5 days over the summer, with one discard. With an entry of 22 boats, it was decided to split the boats into 2 classes, all going off the same start line. Tough decisions had to be made on the morning of the race due to the change in tide from ebb to flood and a potentially dying breeze.
At the start, there was a fickle 5 knots, but Chris and Hannah Neve, on their First 35, No Chance, got a great start in Class 1 and led to the top mark, Aquaspec. Class 2 had a shorter beat to Folkboats UK but then the whole fleet had a run to Hurst passing Colten. The breeze started to build despite the forecast and by the end of the run, 20 knots was seen and the boats in Class 1 had inverted on the leader board. Gybing proved a challenge for some boats, both experienced and novice, but everyone managed to drop their kites ready for the beat to the finish at Moore Blatch, with all finishers getting a well-deserved gun.
In Class 1, William Newton and Bill Darley got line honours on Jelly Baby and also won on handicap.
In Class 2, while Simplicity got line honours, the slowest handicapped boat, Egor sailed by Robert and Christiana Weguelin won the class. There were many happy faces in the bar with the novice 2 handers especially pleased with their performance. Chris Neve, Captain of Racing commented, "We put on this series due to demand from our sailors and we are very pleased to see everyone out there enjoying themselves. We look forward to welcoming even more to the next race on Saturday 4th June".
Overall Results:
Class 1
1st Jellybaby, William Newton/Bill Darley
2nd Just in Time, Andy Roberts/Steve Etheridge
3rd Jibe, Fergus Roper/Rupert Houlton
Class 2
1st Egor, Robert/Christiana Weguelin
2nd Simplicity, Rory Fitzwilliams/David King
3rd Islay, Richard Down/Neville Holloway