Lymington XOD Wednesday Series Week 5
by Nik Froud 31 May 2024 11:48 BST
29 May 2024
Lymington XOD Wednesday Series Week 5 © Mike Cowan
The fifth Wednesday series race of the 2024 season had ideal racing conditions - 15-18 knots from the South West and a flood tide. Not surprising then that 15 boats (the strongest fleet of the season so far) took to the start line.
Race officer Ken Hay set a slight platform bias on his start line, and there was no shortage of interest in being starboard most boat to ensure tacking options after the start. Andy Maskell in particular turned the dial up to 11 in his bid to be the most windward boat. Sadly thought, the dial only went up to ten, and X68 was recalled shortly after the gun. X33 Clair De Lune, guest helmed by John Morrow and crewed by Jeremy Baker & Mike Crowe, seized the initiative, called a perfect lay line to mark Y and led the fleet up the mainland shore on the long beat to A. Behind, positions were exchanged with almost every tack - X161 Mayday and X9 Zest made up the top three, X72 Venus, X173 Heyday, X117 X-Ray and X119 Lone Star following not far behind.
The run to S saw no place changes, but did see the fleet compress. Steve & Izzy Adshead in X63 Astra clearly feeling left out from first upwind made sure to get back into the fray by the time the fleet arrived at the downwind mark to round just behind Lone Star, sailed by Paul Woodman, Phil Lawrence and Ollie James.
Clair De Lune continued to keep the fleet at bay on the next beat to C, in what was starting to look like a flawless race. Zest and Mayfly remained neck and neck (where have we heard that before?) and Venus, back on the water after a summer sabbatical in 2023, had managed to open up a slight gap on X-Ray and Lone Star.
Agonisingly, on the final run to S, Clair De Lune fell victim to gear failure as they were unable to hoist their spinnaker. With the downwind leg just slightly too long for them to hold on, Zest and Mayfly slipped past, with Zest just managing to break the overlap at the last minute to slip round ahead.
Zest defended her lead brilliantly on the last upwind to take the win, with Mayfly following only three seconds behind. In a bid to reclaim the top spot, Clair De Lune decided to split from the leading pack - unfortunately, the tactic didn't pay, as Venus took advantage of the one fewer manoeuvre to overtake her shortly before the finish to take third.
Commiserations must go to John, Jeremy and Mike who sailed what would have been a perfect race - sailing is a cruel sport sometimes!
1. Zest
2. Mayfly
3. Venus
4. Clair De Lune
5. X-Ray
6. Lone Star
Full Lymington XOD series results can be found at rlymyc.org.uk/afloat/results/XOD-results