We had 17 Sailors yesterday for our Scratch Event.

We welcomed back Brendan Hones, who has been away for a while and it was good to see him in the thick of the action again.

The weather was perfect for a good sailing day, with  Nor’easter ( you do remember what they are, don’t you) finally kicking in around 1 p.m.  It started out as an Easterly zephyr, causing a few A sails to try out.  They quickly came in and changed to B’s and C’s; then a few D sails appeared later in the day.

Once it kicked in, the Nor’easter was fluctuating somewhat but ranged from 12 to 26 Km/Hr.  It was a little warm at 28 deg.

The course was essentially an up and down one parallel to the deck, so we didn’t have a glare problem to deal with.

We got through 10 races without too much effort, even though we had a number of breakdowns and tie ups between boats to deal with.

The downer of the day was the number of port/starboard collisions, particularly at the first mark.  I think a number of sailors will be unhappy with the results because of them.  Something we need to pay more attention to in the future”.

Robin Tickner is showing his prowess, once again. After his sighter in race 1, Robin proceeded to either win or place in all his following scoring attempts, 3 firsts included. He scored 16 points to decidedly win the day. Phil Stevenson continued his top form with similar results with 2 firsts. Phil scored 22 points for second place. Graham Brown doesn’t seem to have things all his way at the moment. Graham had all his finishes in the front group with 4 places to score 28 points and lock in 3^rd place for the day. He will be back, trust me! Brendan Hones has lost none of his abilities and has returned to win races 3 and 6. Stephen Deane had a mixed day. His glory came from 2 firsts for a reasonable score, all Stephen’s races finished within the front half of the fleet. Noel McPherson would normally featured further up the sheet. His group of places and all front half finishes placed him sixth. Rob Lowndes won race 2 and looked to be headed for a good day but unfortunately he dropped off the pace after that.

A fleet of 17 boats is a good test of one’s sailing abilities. You have to perform well in each race to score well.

Race winners were Robin Tickner 3, Phil Stevenson 2, Brendan Hones 2, Stephen Deane 2, and Rob Lowndes 1.

Robin Tickner took the honours for the day to win 1st place on 16 points.

Phil Stevenson finished in 2nd place on 22 points.

Graham Brown finished in 3rd place with 28 points.

The Club Championship now has Graham Brown in front from Phil Stevenson and Martin Thearle.

Our next Sail day is Thursday 23th October for a Scratch Event.

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