Thirteen Sailors braved the adverse forecast yesterday for our Scratch Event.

The showers were absent but the wind was on the money and this made the day a challenging one.

We had a very low tide which had the course set a fair distance out. The wind from the South hovered around the low 20’s Km/Hr. There were some quiet patches but the gusts reached 49 Km/Hr, (11 up to 26 Knots).

We all chose “C” sails with some “D” ‘s appearing towards the end.

We were a little late starting which allowed only 8 races for the day. Once again, quite a few rescues were needed. The low tide didn’t affect the racing but there were quite a few groundings during the spells between races, myself included.

Our Champion for the day was Noel McPherson. Noel stayed with his “C” sail throughout and mastered the conditions for a perfect score of 6 first places. Having to drop 2 second places is a luxury one could only hope for! Noel is well known here for his ability to control his nosedives and this was well on display yesterday.

Graham Brown and Phil Stevenson snared many of the remaining places to come home in second and third place. Graham took the 2 leftover wins to score 11 points and Phil came third with 20 points. Phil’s DNF in race 4 saw him floundering in the lulls, retrieval found a length of fishing line attached to his keel. There was no fish attached. Peter Close is always a strong contender and can appear from a wide side and finish well. All Peter’s finishes were around 3 to 6. Robin Tickner had to adjust the “throttle cut” setting on his transmitter. This had caused his mainsheet to either be full in or full out. Robin said this made it “difficult to sail”. Another adjustment saw Robin return to the front group with a second and some high finishes. There weren’t many places left for us remaining. Martin Thearle, Rob Lowndes and myself took one each.

Race winners were Noel McPherson 6 and Graham Brown 2.

Noel McPherson took the honours for the day to win 1st place on 6 points.

Graham Brown finished in 2nd place on 11 points.

Phil Stevenson finished in 3rd place with 20 points.

The Club Championship now has Graham Brown in front from Noel McPherson and Phil Stevenson.

Our next Sail day is Thursday 2^nd November for a Handicap Event.

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