Opening Handicap Sunday 22nd March Race Report

The winter break opened with the traditional Opening Handicap in sparkling warm sunshine and light winds. It was great to see 32 entries from 10 classes taking part.

Race Officer Chris Feibusch and his team set a great course starting at the Club line with a beat up to Treloar , reach to Gardner, then to North Pilsey and back to Treloar via Sandy for those on shore to see all the action.

As the Fleet left the beach nearing high tide the light North Easterly breeze started to track to the South East and build to 8-10kts as predicted by wind guru Theo Galyer.

All classes started together so lots of action at the pin end to avoid the worst of the incoming tide over the Winner Bank enroute to Treloar. Whilst virtually the whole fleet chose this route a few decided to try the island shore which paid big time ! First at Treloar was the Merlin of Judith and Graham Williamson, closely followed by David and Fiona Sayce in their Fireball both choosing the Winner Bank option. However they only just squeezed ahead of Merry Lewis in her IICA 6 and Robin Gadd’s Solo. The harbour is always full of surprises even for those who think they know it like the back of their hands!

After rounding North Pilsey the Fleet all sailed across West Mud at near high tide then tacking to sail along the beach to Sandy taking advantage of the back eddy. At Sandy first was the Merlin followed by the Fireball and two flying fifteens of Athol and Greg Wells, Charlie McKee and Charlie Simpson. Next followed the first singlehander Vice Commodore Sailing David Hitchcock in his Finn.

The fleet became very spread with differing speeds so the race was shortened at the second round after an hour of sailing for the leading Merlin with the last boat finishing around 20 minutes later. Great timing with lots of happy faces!

After calculating correct times, the final results were:

1. Merlin Rocket – Judith and Graham Williamson

2. Fireball – David and Fiona Sayce

3. Finn – David Hitchcock

Full results can be found here. 

Our tidally adjusted HISC Handicaps seem to be working well as there were 7 different classes in the top 10!

Overall a wonderful start to the season.