Pwllheli Sailing Club Winter Series - Week 2
by Vicky Cox 27 Nov 2022 22:29 PST
26-27 November 2022
Encouraging youth sailors on J109 Mojito, young Harry enjoying grinding for the kite trimmer during Pwllheli Winter Series week 2 © Ben Cartwright
With a conveyor belt of constant weather systems hitting Pwllheli this autumn, Saturday's racing was cancelled but a brief drop in winds to 20-25kts allowed everyone out for racing on Sunday.
Race officer Robin Evans set a course heading east along the coast to the fairway buoy before heading out to the Carreg y Trai buoy and round both of the St. Tudwal Islands, all to starboard before returning to the finish.
Will Partington’s HB31 Honeybee got an excellent start along side Paul Kitteringham’s Elan 350, Finally but with their code zeros up, Mojito and Wild Haggis soon caught up. ‘Finally’ rounded the mark first, closely followed by Nigel Ingram’s Farr 30, Wild Haggis and Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox’s J109 Mojito.
Heading upwind and the J109 was in its element with Mojito taking a firm lead.
With winds oscillating from south to South-easterly, and conditions still not settled from the gale on Saturday, there was a lively sea to contend with and this was particularly the case round the back of the St. Tudwal islands.
Thankfully, race officer Robin Evans had given this some consideration and the starboard rounding allowed the fleet to reach round the back of the islands rather than having to beat into these seas if it had been a port rounding.
Mojito exited the St Tudwals sound in the lead and hoisted their kite, choosing to take a direct course down to the finish.
When Wild Haggis hoisted their kite they visibly took off with speed but in an attempt to keep the boat planing, they took a higher course meaning they had to put in two extra gybes compared to Mojito and that cost them valuable seconds.
Wild Haggis took line honours followed by Mojito five minutes behind but that was enough to give Mojito 1st on corrected. Behind them, Finally we’re pleased to finish ahead of Mark Rosenthal’s Elan, Flair IV and Honey Bee, putting them in second place in the Winter series so far. Honeybee lead the series so far, just 1 point ahead of Finally with Flair IV currently in 3rd place.
Everyone enjoyed the race and headed back to Plas Heli to get results and discuss the racing. The socials continue next weekend with the sailing club’s black tie Christmas party and prize giving but racing isn’t finished just yet! The Winter series concludes on the 10th and 11th December and usually sees everyone in Christmas spirit with Santa hats a plenty.
Skippers are always looking for more crew so please get in touch if you fancy having a go. No experience is needed, just an enthusiasm for being on the water. Email or just make yourself known to skippers on the Plas Heli pontoons before racing.
Full results and the racing schedule can be found at pwllhelisailingclub.co.uk