We had 13 DAC Sailors for yesterday’s Scratch event.

The forecast was close to the mark but sadly the expected Nor’Easter didn’t appear.

The direction was fairly steady from the North West. The wind speed ranged from 4 to 7 Km/Hr., with a few gusts to 21, (2 to 4 Knots, gusts to 11).

We chose B sails for the first 2 races and the A’s for the rest. Mostly clear skies and 28^oC gave us a nice atmosphere on the Deck.

A few, led by Graham Brown, made some modifications to our tender trailer. This to assist loading the tender, especially at low tide. Great job Graham, Lew Verdon and others. It looked like a product placement scene for Ryobi.

Firstly, another thank you to Mick Costa who stood as Race Officer and scorer for the day.

After the earlier start by our “carpenters”, our sailing got underway pretty close to time.

Races 1 and 2 had a nice breeze but finished with it fading away to a drifter.

The A’s came out and the drifting lottery began. The most difficult part was to have your boat pointing in the right direction and hoping for a puff or two.

I had a great race with Martin Thearle in race 4. Entering the last downwind gate, Martin was ahead and drifted through the gate backwards. He nicely cleared the mark and on the way to the finish unfortunately stopped dead in one of many holes.

Graham Brown enjoyed a great day out with all his finishes at 3 or better. Graham won the day with a score of 10 points. Martin Thearle had 2 firsts and came home in second place with 14 points. Robin Tickner scored an equal 14 points but was edged into third place after a countback.

The following positions had a scattering of finishes with a few boats having some gear issues, or just having had enough. Positions from 4 to 8 were fairly close together with a 3 way countback needed

Race winners were Graham Brown 1, Martin Thearle 2, Robin Tickner 1 and Brian Chapman 2.

Graham Brown took the honours for the day to win 1st place on 10 points.

Martin Thearle finished in 2nd place on 14 points after a countback.

Robin Tickner finished in 3rd place with 14 points.

The Club Championship now has Martin Thearle in front from Robin Tickner and Phil Stevenson.

Our next Sail day is Thursday 23rd April for a Scratch Event. I’ll forward forecast details closer to the day.

---