Capstan Trophy Series race 11 at Felpham Sailing Club
by James Gerwat 11 Jul 2019 14:37 PDT
11 sailors were greeted with a gentle 8 knot breeze from the South West. The sun shone too!
In the boat pound, some were saying the wind was building and others saying it would drop.
This sort of speculation only really affected the Aero sailors with their multiple choice of rigs.
The RO set a 'P' course but the line was tricky to cross on starboard. Quite a few opted to start on port tack... one boat tacking from starboard to port on the line and causing havoc.
Most boats headed for the 'Butlins Corner' in hope of catching the tide washing out and a couple of boats (Pete Jones, Blaze and Guy Mayger, Solo) headed out to sea.
The wind shifted more to the South; Guy and Pete rounded the windward mark with Tim Cutsforth (RS600) just ahead of the chasing pack.
Tim disappeared in to the distance with Pete Jones following with the Solo of Guy Mayger on his transom.
The next group of boats chasing Guy were Richard Ganley and Ross Fisher (Blazes) and James Gerwat (D-Zero). Not far behind them were the two Aero 7s of Catherine Hemsley and Richard Bentley.
At the back of the fleet was the Byte C1 of Paula Bentley, the Aero 5 of Roshan Verghese and Simon Howell in his Solo.
The second lap saw a few changes on the water; Ross Fisher went past the D-Zero and the other Blaze, and Richard Bentley overhauled Catherine Hemsley in the Aero 7s.
Guy Mayger was ever present in his Solo - it wasn't until the third and final lap that the two Blazes, the D-Zero and Richard Bentley's Aero7 actually passed him on the water.
After 43 minutes for the lead boat (Tim Cutsforth) the handicaps were applied and it was no surprise that Guy Mayger had won by a staggering 2 minutes 44 seconds (corrected time) over second-placed Pete Jones (Blaze). Third was Richard Bentley (Aero 7).
Thanks go to Glenn Powell for helping on the safety boat and claiming his average points.
Glenn's average points were 13.7.....there were only 11 boats on the water.
Glenn retained his sense of humour.