Hi All, The RYCT winter race on Sunday morning was raced in about a 5 knot northerly breeze with the weather mark well over to the eastern side of the river and a moderate current flowing. We had seven SB20s racing in Division 2 (mixed Fleet) and as usual it made for a very interesting start. There was a strong right hand bias to the start line and plenty of boats fighting for the pin end. Steve Catchpool got the best start with Andrew Blakney just to leeward. Michael Wilkinson thought he saw a gap but couldn’t turn quickly enough to avoid tapping Steve’s hull and ended up having to do a couple or circles. Most of the boats headed up the western shore on starboard tack before tacking out into the stronger current. At the top mark Andrew was first of the SB20s to round with Steve close behind then Hughie Lewis, Ted Grubb and Karabos closely bunched. On the run down Andrew was able to stay in front of Steve until they arrived at the bottom mark just off Nutgrove beach. For some reason Andrew decided to keep his kite up which allowed Steve, who was sailing two up, to slip through inside of Andrew and take the lead. Working back up the river Steve and Andrew worked hard to the west layline while Karabos and Hughie worked to the east layline. It was nail biting to see who was going to come out in front. As the four boats got closer to the weather mark it was apparent that the eastern side had paid off. Steve was still in front but Karabos was now right on his tail with Andrew and Hughie slotting in right behind. It was very close with the four boats working side by side down the next run. At the bottom mark Steve was still in front but Karabos was now a very close threat. With the short leg to the finish it became a tacking dual between the four boats. Within metres of the finishing line Karabos was able to slip through for the SB20 win with Steve a close second and Andrew right on Steve’s tail for third. The handicap honours went to Andrew followed by Hughie who is looking increasingly competitive for a new-comer to the class. Our next outing is this Sunday morning and the DSS will run up to three sprint races for us on a separate start line. See you on the water Cheers Nick Rogers
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 08:44:58 +0000
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