Pwllheli Challenge Series at Pwllheli Sailing Club - Week 5
by Dave Sharp 13 Nov 2018 03:30 PST
11 November 2018
Pwllheli Challenge Series week 5 © Austin Harbison
The Winter Series, four weekends of round the cans racing, got under way at Pwllheli Sailing Club on Saturday. Points from the winter series also contribute to the overall Pwllheli Challenge series so, despite a large number of Pwllheli skippers and crew at the ISORA (Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association) Prize Giving in Ireland, there were still plenty of boats on the water, keen to maximise points.
The fleet headed to start in up to 28knots of wind and large seas left by the overnight storm. Mojito cleared the line first followed by Stephen William's Darling and a new addition to the fleet, Argo, an Arcona 34 owned by Neil Askew. A few retirements in the day left Mojito to quickly make its way round the course to an easy first place, at one point clocking 11.5 knots, pleasing all on board.
Race 2 on Sunday saw more boats braving fresh conditions of up to 22knots. All boats started clear apart from Will Partington's Honey Bee who's enthusiasm put them over early meaning a return to the line. It was a fairly tightly fought beat to the windward mark. Mojito rounded first but being short-handed meant the kites stayed in the bags allowing Jetstream to pass into 1st on the water. Darling and Argo fought closely and Honey Bee made up for lost time by flying the kite on all downwind legs. In fact they tried so hard their boom snapped just after the finish!
All in all a great start to the Winter Series which continues next Saturday 17th November. Anyone interested in entering or crewing on a boat can find more details and full results on the club website at www.PwllheliSailingClub.co.uk