Race Report 18 October 2020
Sunday 18th October was fair and dry but there was little wind, which may account for the fact that only three boats decided to sail an afternoon A-course, which was set appropriately short.
James Armitage was sailing his Enterprise with Ayanda, his light-weight crew. Rob Adams and Ben Chappell were both sailing Lasers.
There was enough wind to start with for all three to sail the first lap in between 7 and 10 minutes – James in the lead. The second and third laps were sailed by James and Rob even quicker in around five minutes each, but then the wind dropped dramatically – or perhaps, undramatically. James’ fourth lap took 10 minutes with Rob lagging behind on 29 minutes. But then the last lap for James lasted what must have felt like an eternity of 36 minutes, while Rob gradually caught up with a 19-minute lap.
So James won the endurance test in one hour and 43 minutes with Rob five minutes behind. Ben had kept within striking distance of them for the first two laps but struggled for over three quarters of an hour on his third (and last). But it was only his second race with us in his Laser, and If it’s any comfort to him, they say it can take five years of racing to master a new dinghy. And that doesn’t allow for our weird tidal waters.
Thanks to Jane Watkins for her patience as OOD, and to Lev Kolobov for manning the safety boat.
Apologies for late reporting – the M of S has been away.
HB
