Virtually virtual racing at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club

A multitude of classes for the Frozen Sheets race at Thorpe Bay © Tim Grigsby

Good morning all, I hope you are all keeping safe and well. With no racing since 26th January and everyone in lock-down it is inevitable that the mental strain will take its toll... hence a 'Virtual' first race of the season!

It has been so long since our last race that it was obvious the turnout for our first one was always going to be excellent. John Payne had finished varnishing his Albacore and was ready to race, even Ronnie and Duncan were rigged and ready to launch with 50 minutes to go, everyone was so keen to go sailing.

The conditions were ideal, wind was 12-14 knots from SSW and the sun was shining. The race officer set a great course (14,12,1,2) for the 8 Lasers, 3 Finns, 4 Albacore's, a Hornet, Hadron, Phantom, two Solos and two Aeros - and that was just in our fleet. Everyone was lined up perfectly on starboard tack with a few seconds to go, well almost everyone - looks like someone was going to try a port tack flyer... oh it's a Finn, I wonder who that could be!

The gun goes and Alex (Finn) manages to cross ahead of everyone on port tack, great start. Up the first beat the fleet are evenly split across the course. First round the windward mark is Gary/Tracy (Hornet) closely followed by Ian (Hadron) then Paul (Phantom). Alex leads the Finns round with Allen and Mark right on his transom. Then it's the Albacore's led by Graham/Nick followed by George/Jim, Richard Smith and John Payne. The Lasers aren't far behind with Rick Paxman leading the fleet but right on his tail is Richard Sands. Clearly all the Laser Sailing he's been watching on YouTube is paying off.

Then it's the main pack of Chris (Boshier), Peter (Thompson), Howard, Adam, Nic and Robin. Robin had a poor start having been caught up with a late starting Sprint. In the solo's John was ahead of Martin but it was close. The reach to no.12 was uneventful and places remained the same. On the run down to no.1 - Mark (Finn) found an extra gear and surged past both Allen and then Alex (hey... it can happen this is a virtual race!) and led the Finns after the first lap.

The Lasers were all over each other carving down the waves on the run to no.2. Unfortunately, Richard's excitement got too much and he allowed Chris, Peter and Howard to pass.

Up the second beat the wind backed a few degrees and dropped to about 10 knots. Gary/Tracy had extended their lead at no.14 and Paul (Phantom) had moved up into second with Ian (Hadron) third. Duncan was only just ahead of Dave Blaker in the Aero but he was really wishing he'd been racing his Laser instead! Alex had retaken the lead in the Finns and Allen was just ahead of Mark - what happened Mark? Never one to settle for second place Allen then sailed very high on the run down to no.1 and to protect his wind/position Alex went with him. When Allen started to take his wind Alex gybed but so did Allen - a dozen gybes later Allen had gained an overlap on the inside and claimed room to round no.1.

Mark however had sailed a more direct course and managed to nip round just ahead of both of them but as they rounded no.1 the shortened course sound signal was heard. Mark was less than 2 boat lengths ahead, could he hold onto his slender lead until the finish?

Back in the Laser fleet Howard and Peter had, as usual, read the wind-shift well and were right on Chris's transom going round no.14 with Rick fourth. Down the run it remained very close and at the finish Chris took the win, Howard held onto second place but then came Rick who had cut inside Peter at the gybe mark despite Peters shouts of 'no water'. Robin had worked his way up to 5th, just ahead of Adam, Nic and Richard (sorry Richard). Martin had got past John and took the win in the Solos.

Back to the Finns and of course Mark held on to take a well-deserved win! Allen was second only just ahead of Alex in third. On handicap, results haven't been posted yet but that doesn't matter as it was an excellent start to the season.

Stay safe and hang onto your sanity... I think I'm losing mine!