Lymington Town Sailing Club Sunday Early Points Series - Race 8

The forecast was for sunshine and little wind and that's what arrived. However, Race Officer Tig Williams decided that there was enough wind and asked the competitors to launch.

There was just enough wind from the south east to beat out of the river and most of the boats made it on time. There was a strong spring tide so a course was set taking the competitors inshore first, then a reach along the shore and a beat back out to use the outer distance mark of the line as a turning mark, creating a triangular course with 2 laps as much out of the tide as possible.

All the fleets started together and the running start surprised a few competitors but they all got away first time. With just a few wind patches to be found, the Merlins of Rob & Jan Martin and David & Vicky Lenz crept away from the rest of the fleet. At the end of the first lap it was just the Martins from the Lenzs followed by Chloe & Ben George in another Merlin. There was then a gap to a bunch with Adrian Baker in an Aero 9, Geoff Havers in an Aero 7 and Matt & Maria Perkins in an RS200.

With no shorten flag every one embarked on a second lap. The Merlins had enough lead to creep round before the wind disappeared. Many of the rest of the fleet were unable to make against the tide with just a few sticking it out, taking the tiny vespers to complete the 2nd lap.

At the end, the result was a 1,2,3 to the Merlins with the Lenzs first followed by the Martins and then Georges. The boats unable to make the full course were awarded their relative positions at the end of the first lap, but behind all the boats that completed the full course, an equitable solution to reward those who had made the effort to compete.