Spencers Estate Agents Royal Lymington Yacht Club Thursday Night Late Series - Day 8

Spencers Estate Agents Royal Lymington Yacht Club Thursday Night Late Series © Mark Jardine

A perfect 15 knot Westerly breeze during that held during the evening provided ideal conditions for the 59 yachts contesting the penultimate race of the Spencers Estate Agents Thursday Evening Late Series. The tide was already ebbing strongly by the start.

Class one got away cleanly with the tide under them, heeding the Zulu flag (20% penalty if over the line) sensibly flown by the Race Officer. The two largest boats in the fleet Luna & Oui Fling got the best of the beat to lead at the windward mark. Downwind, it became tactically interesting with the big boats forced out in the tide while the shallow draft, lower rated Jin tonic, Jelly Baby and Boomerang gybed along the mainland shore gaining a tidal advantage. From Sowley it was a beat back to the finish where Boomerang took the win, followed by Jelly Baby and Jin Tonic on corrected time.

For Classes LAH 2 & IRC 2 navigation skill and very good eyesight was now required by all as the race team laid moveable mark P at a distance of a mile from the starting line. Coupled with a choppy sea and about 70 boats ahead in various directions on different courses added to the mark concealment. The comment from crew to skippers was 'I think it's over there' caused several jibes. After rounding mark P, with a favourable tide and zig zag mark roundings to the finish, all boats in class were back in the bar in good time, where mark P was the main item of confusion. The results gave Crystal the Parker 27 his series fifth firsts, which under the new owner Richard Newson has come out of IRC Class 1 to race in LAH 2, now the boat to beat. Second Ok Yah, Robert Young and Third Aventurera, David Gough.

Nineteen Nordic Folkboats came to the line, and managed to start without recalls in the strong ebb tide. The fleet headed south into the stronger tidal stream and Crackerjack rounded the top mark just ahead of Mistral. A long run followed in good breeze with the leaders able to sail low, while those a bit further back had to keep their air clear by sailing higher. At the gybe mark, Crackerjack had extended slightly from Mistral, with Tak close behind and ahead of tight group of chasing boats. A deep reach followed to the leeward mark, before the wind backed slightly providing little opportunity for the order to change again. Crackerjack finished some 2 minutes ahead of Mistral, followed by Tak a further half a minute behind.

The final race of the Series takes place on Thursday, weather permitting!

Series results so far can be found here.