Month: June 2019
Race to Marchwood YC and Back
Even though mid-summers day is just a week away the weekend was mostly grey, quite windy and with rain showers. And additional complications included Hayling Island being blocked by a burst water main on Friday, the M27 being closed on the Saturday and some boats being lifted in late! Nevertheless CCRC racing proceeded.
Saturday’s race to Marchwood started with a beat toward the shipping lane then a long leg reaching past Ryde (passing the other race which had started at Chi 15 mins before us) where we then sailed a triangle including a downwind leg, but no downwind sails appeared in the 20-26 knots of wind. Then a final reach up to the finish at Coronation, from which we sailed up Southampton Water to Marchwood Yacht Club.
At Marchwood there was less wind and the sun made a few appearances so all had drinks on deck while watching the container and cruise ship movements a short distance away. Then it was dinner in the Yacht Club before an early night in preparation for an early start the next morning.
At 7am most were leaving their berths and heading back down towards the race start south of Hamble Point. The wind rapidly built again and the showers made further appearances before a start beating south-west. Then a very long leg back to Chi with the wind sometimes gusting up to 27 knots. Once out of the Solent there were more waves to contend with but all finished within sight of each other at Chi in the late morning.
Well done to the PRO and ROs given the conditions.
A windy weekend but a good time was had by all (I think!).
Summer Mini Series
Saturday’s race was to be the first of the Summer Mini-Series but Storm Miguel produced winds gusting around 35 knots so the race was postponed to Sunday. Despite the winds the crews of some 9 boats still gathered in Northney marina for the barbecue.
Next day the forecast was for only gentle breezes, which increased slightly as a sea breeze rose and ten boats turned out to race in a day of sunny spells.
Our Acting PRO/RO used a RIB to squeeze in the full three races for the mini-series each lasting an hour to an hour and half with varied start and finish points. Each start was quite competitive with some close quarters manoeuvres; a couple being squeezed out and one touching the mark. There was a good mixture of upwind, downwind and reaching legs so plenty of opportunity to test downwind sail launches, drops and packs.
Another great CCRC weekend.