Royal Lymington Yacht Club XOD Series - Week 4
by Fenella Lees 22 May 2012 15:25 BST
16 & 19 May 2012
Mersa during Lymington XOD Saturday Series race 4 © Fenella Lees
Wed 16th XOD race started in a good 17 knots westerly breeze and Race Officer Chris Baldwick set a first beat against the tide towards Hurst, short tacking along the coast with several boats touching the bottom but most sailed on again quickly to round Echopilot.
This was followed by a fast run down-tide towards the Island shore and into Boulder bay to mark 4 (Harwoods), which was then followed by a tricky beat against the tide to mark 2 (George Hotel) off Yarmouth.
There was then a fast reach across the Solent to Tanners, with the fleet having to negotiate a course past some rather large shipping en route.
From there it was a straight forward beat against the tide back to the finish at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. It was important to stay well in-shore to avoid the worst of the adverse tide, and with a shy spinnaker reach up the river to the finish, Stuart Jardine in Lone Star claimed line honours, followed by David DaCuhna in second.
Wednesday Results:
1st Lone Star, Stuart Jardine
2nd Mayday, David da Cunha
3rd Lucrezia, Ado Jardine
4th Calir de Lune, Ian Burr
5th Diana, Eric Williams
6th Beatrix, William Norris
Saturday 19th May saw 18 XODs on the start line with a sunny day and a gentle 7/9 knots of breeze. There was a short beat with the tide to Pennington followed by a run against the tide to Lymington Bank where the boats jibed for the long treck down to Jacksons. Some boats stayed in the tide and others went right inshore via the starting box but there was not much place changing, with Stuart Jardine rounding Jacksons first. There was a long beat from Tanners to Colten with windshifts and several place changes - Karl Thorne came round Colten second and held this place on the run to Pylewell and back to the finish at the platform.
Saturday Results:
1st Lone Star, Stuart Jardine
2nd Mersa, Karl Thorne
3rd Diana, Eric Williams
4th Lucrezia, Ado Jardine
5th Beatrix, William Norris
6th X Ray, Robin Balme