N/E Winter series 1
Due to the extremely bad weather forecast for the 15th of January the event was postponed, which was the correct call as Saturday had high winds and heavy rain. It was rescheduled for Sunday 16th.
Sunday was exactly the opposite from Saturday with light s/w winds and bright warm sunshine, at times; one could be forgiven for thinking that it was a summer event.
Race officer Ali Law – who would also be sailing, welcomed the skippers to the event and all agreed there would not be a need for a by boat, this would allow all to sail. The course to be sailed was a windward – leeward course with a spreader / jib mark opposite the weather mark.
It was good to welcome back from sailing full size dinghies (Tazers) Colin Tait with his – pristine condition – Bantock Italiko which showed through out the day that it had the pace to win races but unfortunately Colin has not sailed the yacht since early last year.
Six yachts met at the start line for the first race (each skipper would take a turn as line judge) the first race was sailed and won by out of form Ali Law (Pikanto -sail number 68) second was - inform and the man to beat - Steve Taylor (Zig Zag-sail number 43) and these two battled it out all day. Steve sailed very well in the morning with Ali coming good in the afternoon but he left his charge too late. Ian Dundas was a favourite to win but the excellent form of the past few weeks deserted him and his best effort was one second place. John Owens (whose yacht had an overhaul from Ian mid week) sailed his best regatta to date and had wins in races five and eight (I would make him the man of the match) Brian Robertson had flashes of inspiration and was pretty consistent but didn’t do enough over the day. Racing finished up at 3pm and it was again well done Steve,
Summery
The wind coming from the southwest had plenty of shifts and holes which made for very tricky sailing and high levels of concentration were called for to work out where best to place the yacht. After lunch the wind shifted right and the course had to be shifted but after three races shifted back. The yachts that favoured light winds did very well (the Bantock designs) but the Widgets were not far away.
Excellent weather conditions, the correct decision to postpone for a day, Skippers sailing in a very sportsmanship manner, a worthy winner and all skippers went home knowing it had been a good days sailing
Skipper Jib Nr Design points Place
S Taylor 43 Bantock Zig Zag 16 1st
A Law 68 Bantock Pikanto 17 2nd
J Owens 101 09 Widget 29 3rd
I Dundas 38 Widget 35 4th
B Robertson 40 Bantock Topiko 36 5th
Due to the extremely bad weather forecast for the 15th of January the event was postponed, which was the correct call as Saturday had high winds and heavy rain. It was rescheduled for Sunday 16th.
Sunday was exactly the opposite from Saturday with light s/w winds and bright warm sunshine, at times; one could be forgiven for thinking that it was a summer event.
Race officer Ali Law – who would also be sailing, welcomed the skippers to the event and all agreed there would not be a need for a by boat, this would allow all to sail. The course to be sailed was a windward – leeward course with a spreader / jib mark opposite the weather mark.
It was good to welcome back from sailing full size dinghies (Tazers) Colin Tait with his – pristine condition – Bantock Italiko which showed through out the day that it had the pace to win races but unfortunately Colin has not sailed the yacht since early last year.
Six yachts met at the start line for the first race (each skipper would take a turn as line judge) the first race was sailed and won by out of form Ali Law (Pikanto -sail number 68) second was - inform and the man to beat - Steve Taylor (Zig Zag-sail number 43) and these two battled it out all day. Steve sailed very well in the morning with Ali coming good in the afternoon but he left his charge too late. Ian Dundas was a favourite to win but the excellent form of the past few weeks deserted him and his best effort was one second place. John Owens (whose yacht had an overhaul from Ian mid week) sailed his best regatta to date and had wins in races five and eight (I would make him the man of the match) Brian Robertson had flashes of inspiration and was pretty consistent but didn’t do enough over the day. Racing finished up at 3pm and it was again well done Steve,
Summery
The wind coming from the southwest had plenty of shifts and holes which made for very tricky sailing and high levels of concentration were called for to work out where best to place the yacht. After lunch the wind shifted right and the course had to be shifted but after three races shifted back. The yachts that favoured light winds did very well (the Bantock designs) but the Widgets were not far away.
Excellent weather conditions, the correct decision to postpone for a day, Skippers sailing in a very sportsmanship manner, a worthy winner and all skippers went home knowing it had been a good days sailing
Skipper Jib Nr Design points Place
S Taylor 43 Bantock Zig Zag 16 1st
A Law 68 Bantock Pikanto 17 2nd
J Owens 101 09 Widget 29 3rd
I Dundas 38 Widget 35 4th
B Robertson 40 Bantock Topiko 36 5th
C Tait 73 Bantock Italiko 55 6th
