What a great start to the season! Sixteen boats on the start line, sixteen finishers, and a very enjoyable race, with some close timings.
Thanks first to George Whitchurch and Jonathan Payne on ‘Panpipe’, for a very efficient job as Race Officers.
It wasn’t as cold as expected, but rather dull, and a start into a North wind, which we don’t get that often. This turned North Easterly, as forecast, and generally kept up a reasonable Force 3, with occasional gusts, and some rather trying flat patches, which affected most of the fleet at one time or another, and led to a few longer gaps in the finishing times. A good romp out to the North Eagle, twice up the Colne, and no real tide gate, but a testing cross tide leg in failing wind, from WM12 to WM3 on the way back. Pretty good stuff !So ……… the worthy winners were:
NHC Class
First – ‘Woozle Hunter’ – Ian Ivermee – Marconi SC
Second – ‘Caroline’ – Andy Ellis – Marconi SC
Third – McGregor IV – Peter Ward – Marconi SC
IRC Class
First – ‘Absolution’ – Eric Reynolds – Maylandsea Bay YC
Second – ‘Blue Moon’ – Richard Robarts – Marconi SC
Third – ‘Woozle Hunter’ – Ian Ivermee – Marconi SC
Congratulations to all, and to Marconi SC for a near clean sweep of the top three in both classes. A fine start for ‘Absolution’, and we hope this will encourage more boats out from Maylandsea Bay YC.