Frustrating times at Lymington

Lymington Town Sailing Club
Round 6 RS Fat Face Racing Circuit 2005
9-10 July 2005

Thirty RS800s arrived at Lymington, braving the ominous forecast and well prepared for a light wind weekend�..

After a bit of ferry dodging whilst launching, the race committee did a great job of getting the racing started in a promising 8-10 knots of north-easterly breeze. After a break from 800 racing for the majority of the season, Tom Jeffcoate and Toby Wincer pulled out a great lead to round the windward mark in first place. The glory was short lived only to realise there was no need to round a spreader mark (for the 700s only!), allowing the number one seeds Steve Irish and Martin Gotrel in Magic Marine to gybe set and take the lead. Further back in the pack the race for the windward mark was on, with the tide making it even harder. Lots of dagger boards getting wrapped around the lines � pretty frustrating stuff! Not much place changing from here on, with the Magic Marine boys taking the first bullet of the day followed by Jeffcoate/Wincer with Spod and Jane Olive in Sola/Harken in third.

Race two was all about tide dodging. Left paid for the tide but the breeze was coming in from the right. After a fair bit of tacking it was Justin Deal and Sarah Marriott who came out trumps to round the windward mark ahead of the Olives with Irish/Gotrel third. Approaching the windward mark for the second time and the question was not so much which way do we go, but more like where the heck is it? After Deal/Marriott made the classic mistake of rounding the 700s windward mark, the whole fleet then realised that a K6 was nicely tangled around their mark, with a rib thrown in for good measure! The pecking order was then established with the Magic Marine boys in first, the Sola/Harken team in second, Jeffcoate/Wincer third and Deal/Marriott cursing their way to the finish in fourth.

Race three and the tactics were clear � go left and keep out of the tide! With the K6 finally removed from the mark there was a visible course and some much better breeze than predicted. Once again Irish and Gotrel (Magic Marine) stamped their authority all over the fleet and did a horizon job. Meanwhile Andy Cornah and Orwin Murray and Ben and Jenny Vines battled hard for second and third place.

Day two and what looked so exciting from the shore materialised into precisely nothing out in the Solent; but the shorties were out in force and sunbathing shifted to top of the agenda. The committee attempted a start but by the end of lap one it was clear that abandonment was on the cards.

Not deterred by the failure of the first race, the committee raised the flags and set the 800s off on a second. A little breeze began to fill in � and the first few 800s crept round the top mark, lead by Ben and Jenny Vines and closely followed by Russell Peters. By the end of lap one Irish/Gotrel worked their magic (marine!) and tacked out to the left hand side which paid off enormously putting them in top spot by the windward mark. Vines and Peters were still well in the chase, with the Olives and David and Fiona Sayce also making awesome recoveries to round well up there in the rankings. It all got a bit confusing by the bottom as finally the well awaited sea breeze made its entrance, so just to add to the comedy of the racing kites were dropped and it was a beat across the line.

By race five a 12-14 knot sea breeze had established itself well and there was no holding the 800 fleet back. First general recall of the weekend and not surprisingly either with a ripping tide shoving all boats over. The black flags soon put a stop to that and finally the 800s were let loose on the course. Top mark and the Magic Marine boys were revelling in the conditions. Other names well up there include the Olives, Jeffcoate/Wincer, Cornah/Murray, Peter Barton and Suzanna Bickford and Deal/Marriott. By the final run Barton/Bickford sailed themselves into second place behind Irish and Gotrel. Jeffacoat/Wincer hung in there to take third while Deal/Marriott just pipped the Olives to finish fourth.

A great weekend had by everyone � but all 800s were in agreement that we�re never sailing on the same course as the K6�s again!

1st � Steve Irish/Martin Gotrel in Magic Marine
2nd � Spod Olive/Jane Olive in Sola/Harken
3rd � Tom Jeffcoate/Toby Wincer in Sharky
4th � Justin Deal/Sarah Marriot
5th � Ben Vines/Jenny Vines in Pixie
6th � Peter Barton/Suzanna Bickford in skifftastic.co.uk
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