Monday 29 Dec – Series 1 Race 4
We had a great turnout of 20 boats today. We had a North-Easterly breeze of 5-10mph and we were all rugged up for the chill factor.
We started with a Northerly breeze with a reaching start to try and incorporate a couple of short windward legs, but by Race 4 the breeze had swung to the North-East so the course was adjusted to give us a windward start and finish.
There were some very close finishes with up to five boats in with a chance of winning within a few boat lengths from the line. There was a combination of luck and skill required to hold your course or tack at the last moment in the shifty conditions.
The top three boats won 7 of the 9 races between them and finished 14 points clear of the rest of the fleet.
On the gold medal step today was Neil Robinson (60) with 2 wins and 3 seconds (I’m not tuning your sails next week!). The silver goes to David Donin (344), just a point behind, with 3 wins and a second and the bronze goes to Paul Heaney (422) with 2 wins and a second.
There was only one point between the next three places with boat 37 in fourth place with a win in Race 7. Rob Andrews (52) was fifth on countback with a second place ahead of Andy Chapman (291).
