AM: Sailboat 4
Vicki Duncalf judged the start nicely as usual and sailed with her habitual efficiency with the result that, despite sailing the slowest class of boat in the fleet and finishing some nine minutes behind the leader, the handicap gave her second place. Sally Wills, helming the Club’s Bosun under the tutelage of her crew, Roger Heasman, did even better. She judged the start perfectly, kept ahead of the chasing Lasers, finished four minutes behind the leader and was awarded the victory. It was a grey, misty, drizzly day, and not all that warm. The winds were blowing fairly strongly from points between south and west with gusts strong enough to cause a couple of capsizes in the course of the days’ sailing. Jane Anderson’s choice of a Radial sail for her Laser was probably correct for the conditions but in a three lap, forty six minute race she was unable to establish a big enough lead to overcome her handicap disadvantage. Penny Abbott and Linda Spiller, with 4.7 sails on their Lasers, spent the race in close competition, with Linda leading Penny at the finish, but got no help from the handicap in the results.
Results:
1. Sally Wills and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
2. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
3. Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
4. Adam Hilton (Solo)
5. Linda Spiller (Laser 4.7)
6. Penny Abbott (Laser 4.7)
7. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
Retired: Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
PM: Pursuit 4
With a pursuit race the handicaps are in effect applied before the start. The slowest competitors, based on past performance, start first, the fastest last. So Vicki Duncalf set off first but over more than an hour’s racing several of those following overtook her. Penny Abbott emerged in the lead at the end with Linda Spiller next. Nathan Pollard, swept through the field to third place, passing his father’s Bosun towards the end. The breeze had freshened and become a little more consistent but by the finish sailors at the far end of the Lake were disappearing in the mist.
1. Penny Abbott (Laser 4.7)
2. Linda Spiller (Laser 4.7)
3. Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
4. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
5. Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
6. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
7. Roger Heasman (Streaker),
Retired: Adam Hilton (Solo), John Buckett and Sally Wills (Bosun)
Grateful thanks were given to Annie Quartermain and Bob Bennett for running the races and to Mandy Pollard for her photographs.