Astral Azure 2000 Class National Championship at Brixham Yacht Club - Day 2
by Mark Foley 18 Aug 2020 02:11 PDT
16-21 August 2020
The misty miasma of Sunday drizzle had evaporated into a bright sunny morning at Brixham revealing a flat sea with the ferris wheel by Torquay Marina discernible across the bay.
The weather had revolved to the west; no wind could be felt in the shelter of the harbour, and not much by the committee boat at sea so postponement was flagged until late morning. By the time the fleet assembled at the start a very nice breeze was building requiring all bottoms on the gunwales.
The direction was south westerly, so the course was set sailing into the bay on a pretty flat sea. Mouth-watering.
Race 3
The pin end tempted the hot shots and the crush there resulted in a general recall; you get the idea. U was raised, but that didn't temper temptation. Recall 2. Black flag followed and five transgressors had to wait out the race which started at the fourth attempt.
The southern side of the course seemed favoured and on the flat sea the fleet was soon quite well spread out. Considering the wind was blowing off the land it didn't seem that shifty. But there were some rogue waves coming through, the source of which wasn't obvious.
It was hard fought at the front, Fresh & Isaac got away into first and Kevin & Gemma had a battle with Paul & Georgia to settle second and third the latter duo taking second.
After very little sailing during 2020 Helen & Andrew Phillips took an excellent fifth after revisiting their rig set up overnight.
Race 4
Numbers 2458, 22642, 22612, 2615 and 21405 re-joined the fleet from the naughty step and - would you believe it? - race 4 started first time. This seemed to be a very well set up course with no line bias at all, those who could get onto port and weave their way across the fleet early seemed to prosper, and left-handers appeared to suffer.
Can't say much more about this one from our disadvantage point well down the fleet we didn't see a lot. Paul and Georgia took first, Rob & Sarah second, Simon & Katie third.
It's remarkable that the four races have each had a different winning team. The top places are now separated by just one point so all is to play for. Maybe the postponement this morning gave the usual shore side opportunity for the sharing of tops tips?