Scow Challenge Cup: Race 2 Saturday 29th March 11.00

The second race of the Spring series saw feverish activity readying boats in Factory Fields while a fickle West / SW breeze hardly ruffled the waters.

Our Race  Officer Red set a course for two races, both to E, anticipating the breeze to fill in from the SW which it obediently did about 15 minutes before the start. This gave us a one sided beat, the best that could be achieved in the circumstances. At the start, our youngest sailor Cleo showed us the way to E and wasn’t headed until just before rounding the mark when the breeze performed it’s “Carpenters Dance”, allowing Jay to slip through to take a brief lead before “Light Airs Lizzie” sailed right through his lee, and on into a 70 m lead, never to be headed. Meanwhile Victoria and Ed were pursuing hard, and on the final mark,D, took the lead when Jay dithered about which side to round it ! Final order: Lizzie, V and E , Jay, with Cleo close behind, a great effort by our youngest to finish ahead of Mary and Karl ! ( and also in the overall positions )
Race 2 saw the wind veer a little West, lessening the beat and those who started at the windward end of the line could lay E without a tack, Mary held the lead this time, followed by Jay and Victoria and Ed, Lizzie and Cleo also in the front pack. With not many passing places, it all hung on the gybe rounding of P where Jay climbed out a bit higher, Victoria following , enabling the order to change at C, the penultimate mark, to Jay ,Mary, V and E , in the mini beat to D , Jay covered Mary and lost out in a shift to Victoria, who wisely split the cover and rounded D just in the lead .Finishing order V and E, Jay ,Karl ,Cleo, Mary. – quite a lot of place changing in that last minute.

Combining the results of both races the final order was 1st Victoria and Edward, 2nd Jay, 3rd Lizzie, 4th Cleo, 5th= Mary and Karl.
Delicious eats were provided and served by the shore team , headed by Fiona and Andrew Duncan, and Hicky.
Well done the race officials, Red and Ginna, we managed some close racing, and thank you to the safety team.