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Coming into the final weekend of the Warsahash
Spring Series "Belle" was lying 10th - unfortunately the
previous weekend all our 707 sailors seemed to have engagements that
they couldn't get out of so we had slipped from 7th place.
The forecast for the final weekend suggested that we could get anything
from calms to rain and squalls.
As it turned out we got both. Whilst the fleet made it's way
out to the start , lightning and thunder were crashing around the
Solent but despite the rain sailing conditions seemed ideal
with moderate breezes. As it turned out the weather gods were
signalling a frusting hour and half of winds veering and backing
through 120 degrees and dropping to calms. The race committee struggled
gamely on and must have laid four different courses and started the
race sequence three times before at last we were away .
With Clodagh at the helm we were in 5th position at the first
mark before some rusty spinnaker work lost a couple of places but by
the leeward mark the crew were in the groove and we held off the
challenge from the boats behand to hold a 7th place finish out of the
10 starters.
With no more than a couple of minutes between the back and front of the
fleet the art of this racing is knowing how to maintain boat speed,
making the right tactical calls on the wind shifts and avoiding boat
handling mistakes.
In the second and final race of the series we were determined to do
better but a fading wind as we approached the start made matters
difficult and last over the line was not where we wanted to be.
However with Peter now on the helm we worked the wind shifts
and manged to claw our way back up to the front half of the fleet and
round the windward mark just behind the leaders.
There is no doubt that a Club boat can sail fast but in such close
fleet racing and a fast sports boat sail handling is critical. The lack
of a practice and a consistent crew sailing together then cost vital
positions and we slipped back to finish 9th,
So Belle finishes the Spring Series in 12th out of 18. Everyone who has
taken part has thoroughly enjoyed the racing and there has been some
great sailing.
Looking forward to the coming summer season we willl arrange some match
racing weekends to hone boat handling skills and have new sails ready
for Round the Island and CosesWeek - anyone who would like to take part
or help organise any sailing weekends on Belle should contact 707@lloydsyachtclub.com
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