Fourteen sailors enjoyed a beautiful Spring day of Handicap Racing yesterday, The day shone bright with a lovely NE 7 – 15 knots with a temperature of around 22 degrees and a light chop.

As we commenced sailing the breeze increased and C sails were the order of the day with an occasional thought of trying a B, which was only a thought.

We welcomed our newest sailor – Paula Reilly, who has purchased boat # 140 and did extremely well, considering this was only her second attempt at sailing remotely. Paula succeeded in finishing every race she competed in – a great effort.

Racing, as usual for handicap days was extremely close, as the points show, with only 8 points separating the top 6 boats.

Unfortunately we lost a couple of sailors, early, through boat malfunctions. Particularly disappointing for Lew Verdon who broke his mainsheet in the first race and John Porter experiencing radio problems.

Wins to Richard Thorpe, Geoff Lucas (2), Rob Westaway, David Moont (2), Peter Close, Ian Spencer, and Rob Lowndes showed the handicapping is working well and finishes were often close and very busy.

At the end of the day, Rob Lowndes held on to win the day, closely followed by Stephen Deane 2nd and Peter Close 3^rd. Rob’s two firsts and plenty of top 5 finishes enabled him to fend off challenges from Stephen and Peter. Although Stephen didn’t win a race his scores were always in the top 4, proving consistency is the key.

Congratulations to these three sailors on a good consistent performance.

Rob Lowndes took the honours for the day to win on 30 points.

Stephen Deane finished in 2nd place on 31 points.

Peter Close finished in 3rd place with 33 points.

Our next Sail day is Thursday 14^th September for a Scratch Event.

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