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Home / Archived / 2019 / News 2019 / Bank Holiday 1 and 2 Easter Monday April 2019
Home / Archived / 2019 / News 2019 / Bank Holiday 1 and 2 Easter Monday April 2019

Bank Holiday 1 and 2 Easter Monday April 2019

Thanks to RO Phil Russell for a great report of Easter Monday's Bank Holiday 1 and 2 races. .

Having failed to get all classes completing a race this year due to lack of wind, both competitors and organisers scanned the cloudless skies at breakfast to see if the forecasted breeze would arrive. As it happened, a wonderful F3-4 from the east built and remained all day. In fact it created a perfect race wind, without gusts or fluctuation in direction.

The cruiser class got off in time to see Sanity (Nigel Talbot) nail the start on a beat towards Bob Kemp and Ryde Pier. Mad Hatter (Tony Pope) was delayed at the start unconnecting a leeward mark and taking on more crew.

Squibs and fast handicap classes enjoyed the classic triangle sausage course, shortened after the first triangle of the second lap and over an hour's racing. The Squib lead changed three times, not least because the 'wing mark to leeward' leg was not quite a shy spinnaker reach and this sewed confusion and slowed the lead boats. Incognito (Ian Morgan and Rachel Wroath) took advantage of this for the win.

The fast handicap fleet were a mix of RS400s and 100s, and Lasers in various rigs. The starts were competitive with eight boats on the short line with speed (Tom White OCS Laser on the second race on the pin end). The triangle legs were processional by volume of sail but the down wind leg of the sausage gave options to play the angles in the slack tides. The sight of the boats planing down wind and the smiles on the faces showed it was a good day to be on the water.

For the second race of the Bank Holiday series, the race team shortened the distance to the windward mark and moved the wing mark to windward. This kept both the Squib fleet close and allowed the RS400 to overtake them although they started five minutes later. As the tide grew, the windward legs became more predictable, beating up the shore out of the current, leaving the only opportunity for change of positions on the downwind legs and at the mark roundings. Neil Griffiths is winning on the fast handicap series results so far and Harry White and Arthur Farley sailed well to get second and third with their Laser rigs.

The small slow handicap fleet enjoyed a sausage course of two laps. The second race start was very close and if Charlotte Andrews had called starboard she would have gained the advantage on the larger and faster competitor.

It was an excellent day for racing, let's hope the winds are fair going forward into the rest of the season.

Terrific pictures by Steve Baker in the gallery. Click the link to view. https://www.rvyc.org.uk/gallery/83794

Last updated 12:19 on 25 March 2024

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