Parkstone Yacht Club Flying Fifteen Autumn Series - Race 6

Fifteen boats took to the water into a chilly WSW 20+ knot breeze that slowly reduced over the race and was somewhat shifty at times!

Thanks, must go to Richard Whitworth for aiding the average fleet age, by taking Oliver Scroggie (11yrs & 32 kgs) out for a spin and although they ended up retiring due to a cold crew, they did very well all the same to start in 21 knots!

Race Officer Fi Linford set a top triangle tour taking in Oyster, Rebbecks, Balls Lake, Morris Lane, Quay Sails & Northshore Homes to line with a planned further two loops back to Quay Sails and Northshore. Unlike previous weeks, it appears all navigated the correct course.

The fleet got away first time with a split quickly developing with a Brownsea Group and those trying to avoid the ebb tide, taking a Quay route. Bob Alexander/Huw Willets quickly established a lead on the Brownsea side (can't mention the Quay group as to what happened on that side of the course - until later), leading to the Wych channel. Patrick Keats/Jake Grant tacked well before the channel to take a westerly course, followed by Graham & Ben Scroggie. On the subsequent cross tacks later, the boats that went closer to the island seem to faulter, allowing Patrick/Grant to take the lead.

Back to the Quay Group. On the way West to Oyster, I mentioned to Dad that the Quay Group had started to "pop out". The only boat I could see was David Tabb/Dave Coward in 4052 who were looking fairly good on a port lift around the ferry terminal. To be honest at the mark we were a bit busy so lost track, but on asking Dave in the bar "what happened to you" he quoted, "when we tacked at the Quay we read 315 however ended up sailing on 262 near Oyster". Enough said!!

The broad reach to Rebbecks was fairly uneventful with a split of the fleet up the next beat to Balls Lake. Patrick/Jake developed their lead heading back to the finish line for the first time, however were followed in hot pursuit by Crispin/Steve, Bob Huw & Graham/Ben. Lots of close racing ensued with the term "joined by elastic bands" coming to mind. Pete and Jo Allam made a late charge to close considerably on the leading four, however were to finish in 5th with Bob/Huw 4th after a misjudged gybe down the last run where Graham/Ben got through to 3rd to finish.

The battle for 1st & 2nd raged on with Patrick/Jake leading all the way to the last 10m, where Crispin/Steve pounced on the line bias to swipe victory.

It's not over until it's over...

Race 6 Results: (top four)

1st 3922 Crispin Reed Wilson & Steve Brown
2nd 3821 Patrick Keats & Jake Grant
3rd 4020 Graham Scroggie & Ben Scroggie
4th 3537 Bob Alexander & Huw Willets