Race 3 was won by Michael McNamara and Simon Townsend (10648) followed by Richard Stone and Catherine Gore (10974) whose fortunes had changed from a distinctly average first day. Roger Challis and Mark Johnston (10992) were third.

Race 4 was also won by Michael and Simon, again followed by Richard and Catherine. Andrew and Tom Wilson (11093) were third. This race saw the first appearance of the black flag which caught out Len Jones and Pete Mitchell (11067).

Race 5 was redemption time for Len and Pete who did a horizon job on the fleet. Colin May and Sarah Wallis (10768) had their best result of the series so far in finishing second. Roger and Mark finished third. Another notable feature of this race was that the class copyright holder inexplicably fell out of his boat. He recovered himself with minimal help from his crew.

Race 6 was Len and Pete’s again; another comfortable win for them this time from Michael and Simon. Richard and Catherine completed their day with third place. This was another race where the black flag was displayed, with Andrew and Tom Wilson and Barry Wolfenden and Alan Ritchie amongst its victims.

Top six after 6 races:

1st 10648 Michael McNamara and Simon Townsend (8 points)
2nd 10688 Bill Whitney and John Shelton (21)
3rd 10992 Roger Challis and Mark Johnston (21)
4th 11067 Len Jones and Pete Mitchell (26)
5th 11093 Andrew and Tom Wilson (32)
6th 10768 Colin May and Sarah Wallis (32)

 – Tim Townsend

Winners of the practice race were Bill Whitney and John Shelton (10688).

The first points race was also won by Bill and John from Andrew and Tom Wilson (11093) and Michael McNamara and Simon Townsend (10648).

The second points race was won by Michael and Simon followed by Roger Challis and Mark Johnston (10992) and Barry Wolfenden and Alan Ritchie (10936).

Top six overall after day one:

1st 10648 Michael and Simon (4 pts)
2nd 10688 Bill and John (7)
3rd 10992 Roger and Mark (8)
4th 10673 David Roberts and Mike Bryant (9)
5th 11093 Andrew and Tom (10)
6th 10936 Barry and Alan (12)

–  Tim Townsend

Please enter in good time and sign up for the supper on the Saturday.

I wish you all calm seas and good winds.

Best wishes,

Ben Davies

NoR can be found here: L’Escargot 2017 Notice of Race Final

and Entry form can be found here: L’Escargot 2017 Entry Final

Additional information at http://www.aldeburghyc.org.uk/

Results at the end of Day 1:-

1st Len Jones and Jamie Lea
2nd Bill and Lisa Witney
3rd Brian Lamb and Sam Pygall

Note; Len and Jamie had 2x 1st and 2x 2nd….and 2x capsizes, 2x bent windex, 1x broken spinnaker pole.

Day Two in summary:-

As forecast, Sunday saw a complete change of conditions from Saturday, with a light and patchy southerly(ish) breeze. The race officer saw the fleet off first time and there were many place changes as the whole fleet gained or lost as a result of wind pressure or wind shifts. What breeze there was failed towards the end of the race with the biggest delta of the weekend between first and last. Sensibly, the race officer binned the last scheduled race.

The top three overall were:-

1st Len Jones and Jamie Lea, Medway Yacht Club
2nd Bill and Lisa Witney, Shoreham Sailing Club
3rd Brian Lamb and Sam Pygall, Wilsonian Sailing Club

– Tim Townsend

Photo © Moya Weighill

On Saturday the wind was from the North and a fitful 5-10 knots. The race officer used the whole of the lake for three races over a figure of 8 course. With the wind oscillating wildly 25 degrees either side of the mean, rarely were positions held comfortably for a whole race if either a shift or a stream of breeze was missed. For example, Tim Townsend and Catherine Gore found the conditions incomprehensible in the first race of the day, when they plummeted inexorably from a comfortable second place halfway through the race to finish thirteenth at the end. Michael McNamara and Simon Townsend were the only truly consistent team on the day registering 1, 2, 1 to lead overnight from Len Jones and Peter Mitchell who shared second place with Andrew Wilson and Sue Risbridger.

WOSC treated the competitors royally on Saturday night with a fish and chip supper and music from a very good live band which enticed many people onto the dance floor (including an unnamed sailor from Wilsonian SC who really should know better) for an entertaining and enjoyable evening.

“Variety is the spice of life, that gives it all its flavours” said the renowned 17th century poet, William Cowper, and certainly the champions of sailing need to be able to master a variety of conditions, including, as it turned out, the wind conditions on Sunday, which were intermittent gusts of 0-4 knots. “Enough to sail” said the locals to quizzical looks from the hardened travellers. The wind direction vacillated (“oscillated” would be too certain a term in the prevailing conditions) from East to West via the North with a consequence that three boats could, within lengths of each other on the same leg of the course and at the same time, be sailing upwind on port or starboard tacks or free on a broad reach and all pointing in the same direction.

Photo © Moya Weighill

These were trying conditions indeed, but somehow the race officer managed to achieve two more races, on a course shared with the Wanderers but only on half the lake. Clear air was a problem for all (any air was a problem for some), and again there were snakes and ladders, no more so than for Brian Lamb (fresh from his exploits on the dance floor) and Sam Pygall who at one point led the first race on Sunday by a country mile and contrived a spectacular fall from grace to finish thirteenth (“God works in mysterious ways” wrote William Cowper).

In spite of the conditions, the frustrations and the inevitable raft ups at marks of the course, the cream still rose to the top. Andrew and Sue won both races on the day, but that was not enough to topple Michael and Simon from first overall. Len and Peter continued their consistent performance to round off the top three. Also very consistent over the weekend was local sailor Richard Burton who borrowed a club boat with Hugo Burrows and exploited the conditions perfectly to win the second race on Saturday and finish fourth overall.

Thanks go to all the members of WOSC who volunteered on and off the water for making it an enjoyable weekend.

– Tim Townsend –

(If the table below appears truncated, view it on this page instead)