63rd Shearwater National Championships at Brightlingsea Sailing Club - Day 2
by Sam Vaughan 19 Aug 2019 11:41 BST
18 August 2019
A new day brings new opportunities for the Shearwater fleet at Brightlingsea Sailing Club; the breeze was down and the sun was shining.
The third championship race got away in 14-16 knots of breeze, the majority of the fleet headed left to look for more favourable tide, and a few boats that did not come off the line well went right. Mid way up the beat the breeze really started to build, as a squall came down the course bringing rain and lots of breeze.
At the windward mark, So Tango was in the lead from Alley Cat and Crowns. Crowns hoisted there spinnaker for the reach and powered off hard to lead at the gybe mark. All boats gybed safely and all boats locked into the second reach for more exciting fast sailing. Crowns went for a drop and successfully managed to go for a swim, the last sound heard from Crowns was "Nige!" which is often heard amongst the fleet when Sarah would like Nigel to be in a little more in control.
Sailing fast through the fleet were Cajensa who managed to single trapeze on all the reaches to great effect. Drops were completed in a tidy fashion, however the squall increased and the boats went into survival mode up the next beat. Carbon Footprint, Cajensa and Diligalf all went for a swim. So Tango continued to lead followed by Genesis and Airflow sailed by Chris Matthews and Nick Winram. These results held to the end.
Post the squall the course was reset and the fleet were set for Race 4. The breeze had dropped to 8 knots, and the sea state that was kicked by the squall made for interesting sailing and how boats would adapt to different modes needed. The fleet went right up the beat, Jessabelle sailed by Mark Norman & Rob Britton led at the windward mark from So Tango.
On the run Crowns made there charge for the front and mange to get into second place. On the second lap So Tango wrestled to the lead followed by Crowns and Jessabelle.
A special mention must go out to the father and son team of Shaun & Alex Allen sailing Carbon Footprint, they managed to successfully capsize in the first race, which is acceptable as it was 25+ knots, but in the second race they also managed to capsize in 5 knots - not acceptable, guys!
Race 5 was under way in more breeze as the worry of more squalls were coming. The fleet went left looking for the last of the favourable tide and Crowns, as they have done before led from start to finish and sailed a really perfect race. Carbon Footprint recovered for a second and Jessabelle was third.
Top Three After Five Races:
1. Crowns 7 pts
2. So Tango 10pts
3. Genesis 20pts