Juice Photography Evening Series 02 at Liverpool YC

by Richard Baldwin on 23 May 2009 In stark contrast with the previous race of this series at Liverpool YC / Tranmere SC, which saw force 8 winds ravage through the fleet, Wednesday evenings race topped out at 4 knots of breeze. It wasn’t the wind that will stick in the memories of the competitors but the constant heavy rain which did eventually relent to a light drizzle.

A number of LYC’s fleet were away to compete in Tarbert , and of those still here some wiser crews chose to stay indoors. Only four yachts started the race, the single class 1 boat choosing to race with the others around a class 2 course.

JLS was late out of the lock and the start saw them swept over the line. They had to take penalty turns to gain release as the light winds coupled with flood tide made it impossible to sail clear back over the line. GK24 Di Rich had the best start tucking just inside pluckington buoy in the stronger tide and settling in for the first beat to Dingle with Projection 762 'F' Word and UFO 27 Legless marginally inshore.

The fleet started to spread as the Projection Took the lead with DI Rich also beginning to pull away, JLS were now back in the running as the yachts turned around Dingle and white sail reached over to G7. This entailed a short beat up to G9, before turning and spinnaker reaching to Midway mark, increasingly difficult to see in the fading light.

With all yachts now spread out only nav lights were visible to one another. The 'F' Word enjoyed a good reach to Midway and the course was wisely shortened by Race Officer Paul Hampson to the finish.

Di Rich was now on the reach as the Projection struggled to make much progress against the flood tide as the class 2 yachts began to gain ground on the reaching leg. JLS was closing on legless but the lost time at the start was too difficult to recapture in such light conditions.

Yachts were hunting for pressure on the downhill leg to the finish with the majority tending to gybe and head into the Garston deep to pick up the now ebbing tide.

The Projection was first over the line but not far enough ahead of the excellently sailed Di Rich on corrected time. Legless was third with JLS not far behind. Lots of soggy crew enjoyed a sandwich and a pint in the bar afterwards with friends at the LYC Club Night.

Results
1. Westerly GK24 - Di Rich (Andre’ Napper and Annie Ward) 5224secs
2. Projection 762 - The 'F' Word (Andrew and Alec Farrell) 5525 (1st class one)
3. UFO 27 – Legless (David Hughes) 5605
4. JLS – Hustler 33 (Mick Ryan) 6373