3rd September Racing
With a southerly wind, no one was going to start on the far side, and with 30 seconds to go I realised there was going to be severe wind disruption from other boats on the club side, so headed out to mid steam for clearer wind. Here we were joined by Knot Rushin’ (11405, Philip Clarabut and Camilla Hobart-Smith), who took our wind anyway. Muffin (aka The Commodore’s Barge, 10974, Richard Stone and Catherine Gore) got away on the club side, and we followed quite close with Loose Knots (10614, Mark Penny and Sarah Mason) coming out to join us..
We rounded buoy 26 and onto the windward/leeward bit. Running to MYA1 I made up some ground by following the tide line to left of buoy 25 before reaching across to Darnett, (whilst others sailed up the main channel) and rounded MYA1 inside Loose Knots. A quick tack to lee bow the tide was a wrong choice, and we lost it all again. We settled into the beat using tactic and watching angles boats were heading around us. We rounded buoy 24 and run to MYA1 (again) but no chance to gain, then back on a beat to 26. Shifts were weird, and we did catch up with Loose Knots for a near port/staboard, but then he got away again. Knot Rushin’ was just behind us. We all tried hard, but the close reach, spinnaker reach and port tack up Heartbreak Reach produced no difference in boat speed or placings so that’s how we finished.
If I turn round too look behind me, I usually fall over, so we have only a limited idea of what happened to the other boats in the race (eight started), but we have seen a report from one that ‘my performance was pants’ so assume it was not all plain sailing. I do know that two boats had new crews, so those helms can blame it 100% on someone else.
Thanks to Roger Gibbs (10666, with Stan Benwell)
There has been class racing most weeks for the Wayfarer since July. One of those resulted in a long delayed redress hearing which was heard last week. The Commodore’s Barge was unsuccessful in its request for redress after it sailed the incorrect course and then sought to blame the course on the basis it failed the string test. The class members indulged in a lively debate on our WhatsApp group about what the string test really means (see Definitions and the RRS if you’re really interested) but we thank Roger Gibbs (again) for this helpful contribution to the debate:
In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle phsics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other
I’m not really at all sure that Roger has understood the RRS but this is educational nonetheless.
The Wayfarer Class was very well represented once more at the Medway Marathon at the beginning of August which was sailed in very light conditions and shortened at Otterham Fairway Buoy. Wayfarers dominated the top results numerically although the race was won by a visiting MRX (essentially, a smooth skinned Merlin Rocket). A full report and the results can be found at https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/252659/Slow-going-for-the-Medway-Marathon-2022
A couple of weeks later six Wayfarers from MYC competed at the UKWA National and European Championships at Arun YC in West Sussex. Over four days and a range of challenging conditions all the boats acquitted themselves very well all finished in the top 20 overall. Mark and Alex Lee (11211) were our best performing boat in 8th place overall. We didn’t win any individual trophies this year but we would have brought home the Club Team Trophy were it not for the fact that it was sitting on a mantlepiece in Hertfordshire and was not available to be presented. Arun YC hosted a successful event with some very close and exciting racing but also some great evening socials. The photo above shows a group of boats planing to the finish of one of the races led by Mark and Alex with the white, light blue and dark blue spinnaker.
Tim Townsend (11012)