Winter Series at Pwllheli Sailing Club - Weekend 1
by Sammo Jones 16 Nov 2021 04:25 PST
13-14 November 2021
Start of race 1 on Pwllheli Winter Series weekend 1 © Gerallt Williams
What a fantastic weekend in Pwllheli for the first weekend of the 2021 Winter series, which is also part of the popular Pwllheli Challenge Series. Both days saw light winds and sunshine although an extra layer was useful with the chilly winter airs.
With colder stormier weather expected in the winter months, the winter series sees just one slightly longer race per day, set over three weekends, compared to the five races per weekend of the Autumn series. With milder, calmer conditions than expected, the first race saw a substantial fleet on the start line with light Northerly winds averaging around 10kts. A round the cans race was set by the Race officer Richard Tudor, sending the boats into a fun and enjoyable days race.
The fleet set off with their kites set for a hoist at mark 1, sending them out to mark 9, the day was full of surprises, competitive sailing between all the boats, on the last lap, we saw Nigel Ingrams Farr 30 - Wild Haggis sailing past Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox's J109 - Mojito who couldn't hold their kite with the wind too far forwards, putting Wild Haggis in the lead on the water.
The race concluded with Mojito winning on handicap, keeping up with Wild Haggis despite being passed. Followed shortly behind by Paul Sutton's J109 - Jaydreamer and Paul Kettringham's Elan 350 - Finally. The wind then died off leaving the rest of the fleet, to include Mark Rosenthal's Elan 40 - Flair IV, Wil Partington's Hunter 31 - Honey Bee and Gavin Nicholas's Trapper 30 - 'Suspicious minds' struggling to finish in light winds.
Day 2 saw lighter winds averaging around 5kts coming from the East, making it a little chillier on the water. The race start was postponed for around 15 minutes to allow the wind to fill in, before the Race officer sent the boats off on around a 2 and a half hour race.
The start saw both Paul Kettringham's Elan 350 - Finally and Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox's J109 - Mojito sailing down the start line with 30 seconds to go due to both boats being a little early.
The race although in light winds was competitive with the boats sailing together for the first lap, Paul Sutton's J109 - Jaydreamer spending the day hot on the tail of Mojito, with Paul Kettringham's Elan 350 - Finally and Wil Partington's Honey Bee hot on the tail also.
On the last leg the wind died, allowing Mojito to sneak away on a different tack to Jaydreamer and cross the line 5 minutes before, this then caused both Finally and Honey Bee lose speed, seeing Honey Bee cross the line and hour after the fleet.
The next weekend of the Winter Series is on the weekend of the 27th & 28th of November, with the discard allowance in place, there is still time to join the fleet and secure a podium finish in the series.
See club website for results