Cruiser Racer series 2026 at Lymington Town Sailing Club - Race 9
by Pat Stables 11 Aug 23:54 PDT
9 August 2026
Race 9 - Cruiser Racer series at Lymington Town SC © Simon Geyman
With a very light North Easterly and the sea breeze not forecast to appear until midday the Race Officer, Nick Hopwood, decided to postpone the race until the wind filled in a little more so the smaller boats could at least make way over the ebb tide. After half an hour it was deemed that there was sufficient to start and set a challenging course for the 8 boats in the fleet.
Pallas Athene (Yeoman) got the best start, sneaking in at the Committee boat end, from Just Do It (J80), the only boat out at the pin end and in less tide. The fleet slowly made their way to 2D (Yacht Haven) with the three J boats, Traffic Jam (J80), Escape (J70) and Just Do It leading the way. The wind gradually veered round as the fleet approached the mark and the decision had to be made as to whether to crab out into the increasing tide to the next mark, 2U (Tuakana), or carry on in shallower water and then tack for it.
All boats decided to crab out to follow the wind round and hope it held. However, there were patches of very light wind followed by stronger puffs with even less further offshore. Having tacked too soon in the fluky breeze Traffic Jam missed the mark and had to tack back against the strong tide to finally get around it. Strega (Spirit 37) held off as long as possible before tacking but unfortunately also missed the mark by a cat's whisker, having to tack back for it, and then got caught up with a cruiser enjoying their day out in the sun.
This let through Pallas Athene in front of her who had judged the lay-line perfectly. Having watched Traffic Jam and Strega, Google-Eye (Trapper 300) and Jen (Nordic Folkboat) tacked a bit later than they should but both got round easily.
Once round the mark it was a spinnaker reach to 2B (Dunford) with Traffic Jam and her florescent lime green spinnaker lighting the way. Strega managed to overtake Pallas Athene but Google-Eye gained on both rounding it just behind them, as they misjudged the strength of the ebb and were taken down beyond the mark having to reach back to it.
The gybe round the mark was tricky for the three leading J's rounding the same mark at the same time as the dinghies on their pursuit race but also for the boats with symmetric kites gybing from a close reach to yet another close reach.
The leg to the next mark, 2C (Colten), was perfect for the three J boats with their asymmetric kites on a very tight reach. In these conditions with her asymmetric, Strega also drew away from Pallas Athene and Google-Eye slowly caught up with Pallas Athene.
As the Nordic Folkboats were still some distance behind, with Otter even further behind Jen, the next mark set the difficult 2U again, and the sea breeze still not playing ball, the Race Officer decided to take the times of the boats at the mark. So despite the fact that the three J's and Strega were already on their way to 2U he radioed the shortening of the course at 2C as Pallas Athene and Google-Eye approached.
Typically, 3 minutes later the sea breeze arrived, and the 3 J's, rounded 2 U easily despite the tide, with all three "finishing" back at 2C under spinnaker before the Folkboat's actually finished there.
A perfect course and day for the J's who cleaned up in all three places in the two fleets.
YTC Results:
1. Traffic Jam (Toby Collyer)
2. Escape (Giles Chipperfield)
3. Just Do It (Adrian and Mandy Bateman)
LAH Results:
1. Escape (Giles Chipperfield)
2. Just Do It (Adrian and Mandy Bateman)
3. Traffic Jam (Toby Collyer