Hamble River Sailing Club Wednesday Night Series A - Day 5
by Lis Robinson 5 Jun 2015 13:45 BST
3 June 2015
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It seems for most of the Wednesday night series this year the wind has come from the SW which limits the availability of marks. When allied with the spring tides last night and low tide half an hour before the start sequence the options available to the RO Kathy Smalley to were somewhat limited. Mark disappears as a windward mark due to lack of water and class 1 and quite a few of class 2 are too big to play on the north shore! Various courses were considered with repeat loops but this was considered to be a bit boring and, with the approach of Cowes Week and the infamous Cowes start line, a decision was made to give the fleet some reaching practise. Reaching starts and reaching legs are an art in their own right and it was interesting to see some upsets in most classes given the change from wind ward leeward courses. With sunshine and some 15 knots it also was decided to let the fleet stretch their legs before the nights started to close in again in less than three weeks (sorry !).
The only fleet who actually managed a competitive reaching start were the XOD fleet with a hotly contested start which had the RO clutching the individual recall and general recall flags with white knuckles although, in the end, this was not needed. Class 3 produced a relaxed and gentlemanly start in contrast to Class 2 which, although busy and loud, failed to be near the start line on the gun. Class 1 was enlivened by a head sail wrapping demonstration by Class 1 newcomer Sailplane in front of the committee boat followed by an unwrapping demonstration ably done and elicited a doughnut nomination immediately. Class 1 also qualified for a doughnut nomination as they followed Class 2 kites down to the leeward mark and La Nef (John Noe) was the first to peel off to Wilson Covers. The final doughnut nomination for Class1 was Wee Bear (Chudziak, Horner, Malas) who found their kite splitting down a previous repair but then did further damage with their keel on the drop.
In a rather unusual occurrence for the RO, rather than complain about a course afterwards, one brave XOD did complain about the course in advance of their start - and clearly correctly as they failed to appear in the top three. Sox (Simon & Gemma Osgood) took the line with Kathleen (MOS Fitzgerald) a bare 8 seconds behind and Leading Wind (Hamish Calder) in 3rd place. In Class 2 Polly (Cudmore & Meakins) took the line seemingly unaccompanied with only seconds between Needlework (Patrick Pymm and Peter Smith), Anne Louise (Peter Slimming) and Imptish who finished in that order under Club Class. Under NHC Anne Louse moved up a place whilst Sunbow (Andrew Quicke) made their first appearance in the chocolates.
In Class 3 and Class 1 the results stayed the same under either system. Fritha (Bob Allen) took Mahjong (Steve & Sarah Powell) on the line by a couple of second and held that position in the result with Forethought of Gosport (Mike James) in 3rd place. Newcomers Sailplane (Rob Bottomley) took line honours but La Nef, having sorted their navigation earlier than their competitors, romped home on corrected in front of Light (Rob Denning) who, despite sporting L plates for as yet unknown reasons,led Wee Bear into the line.
A big Hamble welcome was given to our new chef back at the Clubhouse and, although a tad quieter than normal,there are an increasing number of newer members which is good to see. The hotly contested doughnut prize was finally awarded to Polly for such an outstanding lead despite the hot competition within the class.
Wednesday night racing continues next week but get the date in your diary - BIG WEDNESDAY- is coming 24th June. COME ONE COME ALL - COME BIG AND SMALL. Get your boat out on the water, even for just one race, and get a friend or two to come and try out Wednesday night racing. Racing is free for all members of Hamble River Sailing Club with annual membership costing less than many other series entry fees. Details of the full activities, training courses and events of the Club are on the Hamble River SC website.