Event 1 of the Wednesday Winter Series made a good start with half a dozen member entries and Barrie Martin from the MYSA with sunshine and a stiff gusty breeze from the west. A simple windward leeward course was set close to the southern bank of Abbey Meads Lake and the black squalls, probably of 20 mph made it difficult to row back from the start/leeward gate marks. Initially most of the fleet put on their B rigs and in the strongest gusts these were sometimes needed to maintain control and make it easy to tack without stalling.
However, the wind was very variable in strength as well as in direction, particularly in the centre of the course, so the A rigs dominated the initial results, with 2 unusual wins for Roger’s BOTTLE boat, which always goes very well when over pressed and then a hat-trick of wins by Barrie. The trick was to have enough of twist in the top of the sail so as not to overpower in the gusts and also to present to the wind various angles of mainsail to maintain speed in the lighter stuff when the wind was coming from big variations in direction. Martin, who hadn’t made a good start, with weed problems in Race 4, won Race 6, but then let Leen win the last race before lunch.
The lunchtime leaderboard showed Barrie way in front with 10 points, Roger 19 & Martin 22. As Barry was the leading visitor Roger presented him with his prize of a ROF, a special DF 95 flag that clips onto the backstay crane.
After lunch the wind had moderated and all were in the A rig. Newcomer John Turnbull perfected his sail trimming and won Race 8, with the final race being won by Barrie. It was champagne sailing and everyone enjoyed the event and promised to come back for more in a fortnight’s time for event 2 of the Wednesday Winter Series. An event not to be missed!
On trial at this event was a new idea from Roger to encourage competitors to do penalty turns by having a more lenient penalty. The Short Penalty is simply that on a course to windward the penalty is a gybe and when on the run the penalty is a tack. This appeared to work well and showed benefits to competitors and potentially big benefits to observers. The full wording will be on the GMYC website and clubs are encouraged to try this idea to try and reduce cheating.
