We raced over course 76. The wind was a light North Easterly. The tide was on its way out and gathering pace.
There were only four boats on the water today, due to duties, Wayfarer crews performing race management tasks for the Dragon Eastern Championships, some absentees at a Wayfarer open meeting elsewhere and a family wedding.
This is the view from the crew’s perspective:
We all had a good start. Spinnakers up off to 31(S) All boats close rounded this mark in good order (no shouting in panicking sweat). Now off to 28(P). Still all the boats were very close, Approaching 28 things became very crowded, as we had caught up with the Squib fleet. There were nine boats at the mark (lots of shouting water, windward boat etc.) Rounding the mark, The Hound (10686, Brian and Liz McKenzie) came out first, followed by the Devil (10666, Roger Gibbs and Stan Benwell), Wild Thing (11315, Mike Pimm and Pete Dilley) then Moonshine (10618, Tony Alexander and Jon Moon), who had been pushed wide by the bunch of marauding Squibs.
That race order stayed for the remainder of the race, even after a venture into Hoo Creek to Hoo1(S) without running aground (that’s a change). There was even a good sporting gesture from Wild Thing reminding the Hound that they were about to round the mark 25(S) in the wrong direction. (How sporting is that, or stupid?)
The Race was finished on the water at 30: first The Hound, followed by The Devil, then Wild Thing and bringing up the rear, and closing in very fast, Moonshine.
It might have been quite a different set of results had we finished at the club line, as Heartbreak Reach was living up to her name. Hey ho.
Peter Dilley (11315, crew)