RETURN TO RACING!
Upper Tamar Lake Sailing Club has been taking to the water for a few weeks but had not run any of its 2020 race programme until this week, the start of lock-down having roughly coincided with the start of the racing season. But now protocols have been established for safe racing – how to keep people sufficiently apart, how to minimise the number of things touched by multiple hands – and a public-spirited volunteer, John Duncalf, offered to run races from his car, using its horn to start the race, taking down the results and calculating the handicaps by hand, just as though no one had invented the computer!
The day was fine, sunny and warm but there were large, glassy, windless patches on the Lake when the sailors arrived. Fortunately by noon there was a little wind to get everyone over the start line. Eight boats took the start; four were Lasers, Bob Sampson and Linda Spiller having full sized sails, Sue Murray and Jane Anderson flying Radials. John Dabbs was there in his little Gull, Robin Spiller in his Streaker, Adam Hilton in his Solo, and Vicki Duncalf in her familiar Topper, horribly underpowered for the conditions. No one was actually becalmed but it was one of those races in which the leader, Bob Sampson in this case, finds his comfortable advantage over the chasing fleet substantially eroded by a puff of wind which brings up his competitors before it reaches him. As a result his lead was not enough to overcome the more advantageous handicaps of some of those behind him, most notably the Gull which was well behind after the two laps (a lap was taking nearly half an hour) of the race.
| Rank | Fleet | Class | HelmName | CrewName | Rating | HelmSex | Elapsed | Corrected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aegeter | GULL | John Dabbs | 1365 | M | 1:00:20 | 0:44:12 | |
| 2 | Harman | LASER RADIAL | Jane Anderson | 1115 | F | 0:51:34 | 0:46:15 | |
| 3 | Harman | SOLO | Adam Hilton | 1144 | M | 0:53:35 | 0:46:50 | |
| 4 | Harman | LASER | Bob Sampson | 1075 | M | 0:50:25 | 0:46:54 | |
| 5 | Harman | LASER RADIAL | Sue Murray | 1115 | F | 0:52:59 | 0:47:31 | |
| 6 | Harman | LASER | Linda Spiller | 1075 | F | 0:52:14 | 0:48:35 | |
| 7 | Harman | TOPPER | Vicki Duncalf | 1334 | F | 1:05:03 | 0:48:46 | |
| 8 | Harman | STREAKER | Robin Spiller | 1133 | M | 0:58:10 | 0:51:20 |
Sailwave Scoring Software 2.28.2
www.sailwave.com
A second race was held in slightly stronger winds – there was time for three laps within the prescribed hour’s racing. The Lasers were again the quickest, although there were several changes of lead before Bob Sampson once more established himself at the front. The Solo’s big sail enabled it to keep within reach of the leading bunch but the rest were again some way back. A problem with the timekeeping prevented formal results being issued.
Grateful thanks were given to John Duncalf who made the racing possible.
All races until 19 Sep will be used to calculate series winners. See Sailing Programme – Covid-19 2020.