Racing

EYC Open Weekend – Saturday 15 September 2018

Weather: sunny with clouds

Wind: f 2-3

Course: triangular course

With the wind a gentle breeze from the west southwest. Four cruisers unfurled sails and prepared to battle on the Thames with a course mainly in Erith Reach racing between Jenningtree and EYC. Despite being a little late to the start of the race Nortia (Andy Woollard and Paul Gately) made up good time and ended up coming second on corrected time. The wind was variable adding to the challenge of racing down wind against the tide. Congratulations to Sara and Adrian (Bolero) for winning the race – the new winches make a difference!!

Cruiser Race

The dinghies had a triangular course to play with. The race started at the bottom of the moorings with the windward mark at the top and the gybe mark on the Essex shore. The skilful use of all sails meant that Dream On (Alan Thomas and Megan Gately) was able to take the lead against the other boats in all three races. Sadly, Jack Stevens and Annabelle had some gear failure so were unable to use the spinnaker. Despite the courses being fairly long Patrick Hogan (Topper) did extremely well to finish both 2-lap races before retiring with credit before the third one, as did Richard Banner, who abandoned Hara for racing his Laser. It was great to see two of the historic Hamble Stars out racing with Dave Burton (Star 115) doing very well to race it solo. It was a shame that Bob’s Star had gear failure and the gusts meant Dave had to retire. Carsten and Bryce did very well, racing together for the first time and dealing with a leaky centreboard.

Well done to all the racers. It was a lovely afternoon of racing and the safety boat skippers, Jeremy and Peter, had a pretty easy time of it! Thank you to Team Doris (Paul Reynolds and Sarah Gately) for keeping the troops in order and entertained.

Photos to follow on the Club Facebook Page… checkout what went on and if you managed to get photographed!

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3