It’s the first time I have had to write one of these reports this year as I seem to keep missing out on that coveted third place.  This season I have mainly been far closer to the back of the fleet including a 25th for the big fleet day!

This Wednesday we had some expectations of a slightly better result as the wind was south-westerly and there was a decent amount of it.  We seem to understand what happens up that end of the harbour a little more than down near the harbour entrance.  For the record, the wind was averaging just below 20 knots with an occasional gust of 26 knots and occasional spells of sunshine to make it almost perfect Flying Fifteen weather.

Fourteen boats got as far as the start-line – down one due to a missing wetsuit incident - which resulted in a Rasputin Cup award.   We got out in good time and managed to sail upwind to assess the wind strength towards the top triangle.  By the time we got back the course had been posted -Wyche, 26, Wyche, Nord Homes, Line, Chris Sumner, Nord Homes and Finish. All to port.

As the tide was fairly slack we formulated a plan to go right to start with, but after discovering some pin end bias we ended up starting at the wrong end of the line for this.  From what I could tell from the pin end the fleet got away to a fairly clean start.  Those nearest the box seemed to tack away quickly, while the group from the other end carried on towards Brownsea creating an early split in the fleet.  This included Crispin and Steve in 4101 and Mervyn and Ron in 4111.  By the time we got to Wyche the two groups reconverged with no obvious winner in terms of which way to go but the usual suspects in the lead.  I think Chris and Nadia (4025) rounded just ahead of Crispin and Steve while we were around the middle of the fleet just in front of Mervyn and Ron.

The long run back down to 26 did not appear to offer many chances to do anything very different from the rest of the fleet.  Mervyn and Ron tried gybing off and then coming back at a sharper angle but this lost them a couple of places by Nord Homes.  We just kept low on the starboard gybe and seemed to gain a little on the surround boats by sailing a little lower than the rest.  Chris and Nadia seemed to sail fairly high and lost out to Crispin and Steve although coming into the mark on port they apparently had some problems with the spinnaker halyard cleat which led to a very last-minute drop.  They still managed to round the mark very close to Crispin and Steve.  Apparently, some boats further back in the fleet had some more serious problems with retrieving their kites at this mark leading to a few retirements.

Going right to start with seemed to be the consensus for the second beat but the boats diverged more further up the beat.  By the time we reached Wyche for the second time Crispin and Steve had established a clear lead with Chris and Nadia a little behind.  Then there was a gap to a bunch of four or five boats in the mid fleet and some slightly further behind.  The second run was similar to the first with some heading higher towards Brownsea while others soaked lower for a more direct course to the mark.  We managed to regain a couple of places that we had lost on the beat by going low before we arrived at Nord Homes.

The final beat, through the line to Chris Sumner, saw 4101 extend their lead on 4025.  Again, the mid-fleet group, which now included Roberta and John (4016), Ian and Mike (3936) and Mervyn and Ron, was tightly match with us loosing a place or two.  On the final run we went low again, which initially didn’t look promising, but started to pay as we sailed past the starting platform. It must have been some superb spinnaker work helping us to plane down some of those waves.  As we were rounding Nord Homes again we had got back to fourth just behind 4016.  Unluckily for Roberta and John they had some problems retrieving their kite, which started to act as a water brake.  This allowed us to sail above them into third place.  We then had to tack to cover 3936 to keep between them and the finish.  Somehow, we managed to maintain our position and retain that coveted third place!

Results:
4101 Crispin and Steve
4025 Chris and Nadia
4027 Mike and Paul
3936 Ian and Mike
4111 Mervyn and Ron
4016 Roberta and John
3974 Ann and John
3922 Andrew and Pete
4019 Steve and Lisa
4054 Andy and Simon

3971 David and Frances - Retired
3674 Richard and Richard - Retired
4125 David and Anne - Retired
3966 Richard and Alan - Retired