Race 1
At 13.00hr the Race Officer was considering cancelling sailing due to the heavy northerly winds and the state of the sea. By 14.30, the marks for the course had been laid and the wind virtually disappeared as soon as the race started. The course was pretty exacting for the mixed handicap fleet with a long beat out to a North mark with an increasing tide. The Bennett boys got it completely wrong and shot across the start line 5 seconds before the gun with John mistaking James’s call of “No” for “Go”. Having to pick their way through the fleet they made their way back to the start line but were out of contention by then. Brian and Maria Golton did extremely well on a course where the wind veered and disappeared at times making it almost impossible to fly their spinnaker, and so it was the Laser fleet led by Allan McNeil that took the honours separated only by The Super-Nova of John Ormiston.
Result
1st Allan McNeil – Laser
2nd John Ormiston – Super-Nova
3rd Ceilidh Higgs – Laser Radial
Race 2
Race 2 saw the Bennett boys out to make amends for their mistake in the first race and produced some astonishing upwind sailing against the tide. This was bettered by the more traditional approach of Chris Brealy and Henry Hickson in the Hornet who came in shore out of the current and went on to win the race with some exemplary spinnaker handling by Henry. Ceilidh Higgs stuck to her task to see off the other Laser sailors to gain another 3rd place.
Result
1st Chris Brealy / Henry Hickson – Hornet
2nd John / James Bennett – 59er
3rd Ceilidh Higgs – Laser Radial
