2010 Lymington

Sponsored by Alan Bennett Windows  http://www.checkatrade.com/AlanBennettWindows

Results

PHHS Passage Series A

IRC and MOCRA Passage Series A

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The forecast of fresh south westerlies for Sunday deterred a few but, nevertheless 24 boats started from Poole Bay on Saturday morning eager to catch the last of the spring tide through Hurst and enjoy a warm afternoon in Lymington drinking Pimms, courtesy of Alan Bennett Windows.

With a light wind anticipated and the tide turning at midday, the 0940 start was going to be tight, so it came as no surprise when our immaculate race officer despatched us in the wrong direction to get in a windward leg complete with wing mark before finally setting off for the increasingly distant island. The light wind went lighter as the main body of the fleet converged with sagging kites at East Hook. Bringing up the tail end of the beat (again), Shebeen took great pleasure in spotting the congestion ahead, hoisting the purple beast and sailing around all of them in clear air together with Firestarter catching up from her start boat duties. We went well out to get the best tide and towards what we hoped would be new wind from the south west. It worked. The wind died briefly then kicked in and held at around 12 knots.

Meanwhile Deity went closer inshore where sadly, her crew spotted a body in the water off Boscombe. That was the end of her race, standing by whilst the emergency services came out. The woman had apparently waded off the beach into the sea earlier in the morning and had been reported missing already. Hence the lifeboat and helicopter whizzing around near our start line.

By the time we got to Hurst, the ebb was whooshing out. Shebeen went in to a short pebble’s toss off the beach and found the back eddy, probably giving us 6 or 7 knots advantage over Uproar just a few metres further out trying to plug the ebb. Classes 3 and 4 peeled off for their Pimms at Lymington while us class 2 twits caught by the tide gate, set off to chase our faster class 1 cousins uptide and close to the island shore to Hampstead Ledge bouy straining against a sluicing 3.5 knot current. By now the wind had picked up touching 20 knots. A short beat back down to Lymington Ledge and a short kite run to the finish then finally tied and tidied up by 1700 hours.

What does Pimms taste like anyway? Never mind, Alan and Liz Bennett had organized supper at 1800 hours followed by a fun prize giving at the Royal Lymington.

Sunday morning, coffee and bacon, grey and breezy and the more intelligent half of PYRA read their papers and told tales of derring do from the good old days. Us twits went out racing again! Squeeze past Firestarter’s gate start and close inshore to the island for 45 relaxing minutes of close tacking with far too little water below the keel. Perfect lay to the windward mark which we had spotted while Zorra and Athene looked closer inshore so we were still ahead at Lymington Bank for what we thought would be a short windy dash down tide to the finish. Wrongly guessing that the kite wouldn’t be worth the hassle, we were caught out by a lull in the wind and slack tide which turned foul before the finish. Zorra and Athene shot past under spinnaker and that was it.

Now the good bit. The wind got back up and stayed there for the afternoon with 23 knots across the deck. Beat out to North Head with 15 minutes to spare before another gate start for all classes from Firestarter. Shebeen squeezed through the gap as the gate opened and stood on starboard right out towards the bank followed by Zorra and Moana as the rest of the fleet tacked off inshore where the early ebb would have been stronger. We were aiming for the longer offshore tide and clear air away from other boats. The conditions were perfect for Shebeen powered up with full main and no 2. Zorra was not far behind and pointing well albeit with 2 reefs and the main feathered off. The wind held getting even better for us when it touched 25 knots. We knew we were ok off Alum when Deity passed close ahead. Ceres crossed the line just in front and we saw all the other class 2 boats behind except for Two Fast. Had Alan Bennett Windows claimed Sponsor’s Privilege and saved their time? They were tied up in Poole YC when we arrived. Only the results will tell!

Speaking for all the competitors, many thanks to Alan and Liz for organizing an excellent weekend and also to Keith and Firestarter for keeping control.

Ken Morgan - SHEBEEN

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