What a beautiful evening for a sail! Good winds, plenty of sunshine and a lumpy 25cm of chop….
...We were still in the NE pattern of wind so a repeat of Tuesday’s course layout looked on the cards, and sure enough the OOD set up mid-way between BT and PSC, with a laid mark, but decided to “mix it up” a bit, and as one owner said in the bar afterwards ” I wasn’t expecting 7 corners in a 40 minute race”.
The course was a combination of windward, leeward and a triangle, initially set as Sapristi-PSC(S)-BT(S)-KB(P)-LM(S)-PSC(S)-LM(S)-Finish at NH, and everything was set to go with the countdown well into the 5 minute sequence when Nick realised that a keen-eyed skipper (no names) could simply straight line the KB-PSC leg missing out BT entirely, so a hasty postponement was raised with a correction to have BT left to (P) issued and after a few minutes delay, we were on the countdown again. As the boats milled about, it was obvious we were going to have a VERY close view of them crossing the line. As the start time approached, the hand was on the X-flag as 54 was over, but just got herself back behind the line with seconds to go, and the 6 starters were on their way to the shore.
The good wind meant that 75 was at PSC within 6 minutes, with 74 close behind followed by 54, 80, 78 and 77; all still close together. It only took another 5 minutes for the lead boats to get back to BT, with 75 still ahead, but 74 in her shadow and less than 30 seconds later, 54 still holding 3rd. 74 quickly tacked off with 75 staying heading out to sea, before deciding to cover 74. Eventually, all were on a port tack heading in, before tacking again to head for KB. 75 was still ahead but 74 was now right on her transom, with 54 holding off 80. However 54 had an initial wrap which cost her a few metres. It was a close reach as they headed for the LM. A very late windward drop on 75 was really well executed as they held the lead round the turn.
Here we got into the first real split, with 75 staying on starboard, but 74 tacked off to head out to sea before the two crossed and stayed on a split, but at PSC it was still 75 ahead. As they turned at PSC the full order being 75, 74, 54, 80, 78 and 77. The run back to the LM started with 74 having a wrap, but it was quickly sorted and had no real impact. The split continued at the front with 75 staying on port but 74 gybed in to the shore. And so they arrived at the LM for the final leg, and the order remained the same. The scene was now set for a straight drag race to NH. 54 and 80 was also an undecided result for 3rd. As 77 rounded, Sapristi pulled up the LM and had to push the revs a bit to get through the fleet and your writer lost track of what was happening until we were lying off NH. By this time it was evident that 75 and 74 had stayed split and the final telling move was for 75 to stay out whilst 74 went in and picked up a massive lift on the shore and pipped 75 to the line by 24 seconds with 54 another 26 seconds back in 3rd. 80, 78 and 77 made up the finishers, with less than 2 minutes separating all 6 boats.
Well done to Team Peregrine and with a guest on Sapristi, a great advert for Victory racing.