Nordic Folkboat Lymington Saturday Series - Race 13
by Chris Baldwick 1 Sep 13:33 PDT
31 August 2019
Race 13 of the Lymington Nordic Folkboat Saturday series coincided with the last Saturday of Folkboat week at Yarmouth (sponsored by Lymington Yacht Haven) and so was run from Royal Solent Yacht Club with a committee boat start from Bouldnor Bay.
A sunny, breezy day with south westerly winds of 14-18 knots, and building, Race Officer Jeremy Willcock was keen to take advantage of the last of the flood tide and to get the 26 boat fleet home for lunch.
With a heavy bias to the pin end, the start line proved challenging to cross on starboard. However,Tak made the best start and immediately took the lead, sneaking up the island shore to Black Rock. The fleet then crossed the strong food tide to the mainland over at Colton. There followed a beat along the mainland shore to Hurst before a spinnaker run back to Yarmouth. Helmed by the ever-youthful Ado Jardine, Tak's lead proved unshakeable and they went on to gain a well-earned first place at the finish off Lymington River entrance.
Crackerjack and Mistral were in hot pursuit and gained second and third place respectively. The zig-zag course across the Solent required the prompt observation of early inshore tidal changes towards the end of the race.
Harry Hall, on Svane, hosted a couple of Danish Gold Cup winners on his boat and introduced them to the joys of racing with spinnakers and racing in strong tidal waters, conditions not found in their home waters oft the Baltic.
24 boats finished the race with a couple of top 10 boats having to retire due to breakages and a grounding.
Overall, it was a Solent racing at its very best and proved a wonderful end to the 54th Folkboat Week.