Weymouth YC Opening Day

Awesome weather greeted the small but keen fleet of sailors on Sunday 7th october, for the season opener of 2012-13.

There was around 10-15 knots of wind, blowing straight up the channel past the clubhouse.

Although only three boats started, all of the sailors were new members, some of which had just taken part in our beginners course.

As it happened, if the club had had more sunbursts available, there would have been more boats on the water, as two of the boats were over-subscribed (sailing 3-up), and two other members stayed ashore.

A simple windward-leeward course was set, with a start/finish part-way up the beat. The first race was two laps.

For simplicity we opted to use the reef pole as one end of the start line. This proved to be very entertaining for the spectators, as each boat took its turn performing a not-so-graceful pirouette as they hit the reef. I might add that it was a little frustrating for the competitors.

The white sunburst, sailing 3-up, being helmed by Paul, spent more time on the reef than the others, running onto it immediately after crossing the start line. This proved to be a good thing, as it gave the others a chance to get their noses in front.

The red sunburst, sailing 2-up and being helmed by Rob L, hit the front, and held on to their lead for most of the race, only being pipped by Paul quite near the finish. The blue sunburst, sailing 3-up with Ajith on the tiller, were always close by, just not quite hitting the front.

So at the end of race 1, the finishing order was white, red, blue.

In the second race of the day, paul sailed a flawless race, leading from the start, to win by a large margin. as the other two approached the line, it was anyone's guess, as they switched places often. In this race the blue boat was being steered by Pete. Thirty seconds out from the line it looked like the blue boat was going to be in front, but it was not to be, as Rob just managed to squeeze past.

Once the handicaps were applied,  Paul and Rob had a win each, while Ajith and Pete had managed to secure two thirds.

Full results on the Weymouth Y.C. website.

Next club day Sunday 14th, at 9:30am.