A sparkling, cloudless light greeted us this morning, good SW breeze too around 10-12knots. Temperature about 6 degrees... by the end (!). Ten boats entered - an excellent turnout for so early in the year, and that was with a number of our stalwarts lying on beaches/ski-slopes (delete as appropriate), or nursery decorating. We should have been fourteen on my count.
Race one got away all too briskly. In our keen-ness to get going, there was a bit of playful argy-bargy at the committee boat end, but quick away were Firth and Tinsley (3888), leading the pack up the beat. The PRO has a sense of humour though and called 3888 back after a few minutes of glory had passed by. I should talk - 3934 was out of the gate in tenth. The beats were great actually - long arcs of breeze, just enough hanging out considering Christmas was not far behind us - and bright, bright sunshine. The fleet scooted up the first beat, with the left hand side looking a bit favoured - unusual in a South Westerly at Datchet. The Admiral and the VC were out of it of course, so instead it was 3851 (Ian Linder) that made the pace, with Firth/Mumford (the next layer of the family Dynasty, in 3860) in very close attendance and Clark/Melnikova sailing their socks off in third place. Behind them, the Stensons in their shiny new boat (3632) were sailing very well in company with the Humes in 3559. Jones/Shawyer in 3934 were crawling their way up to the middle fleet, from their useless start. At the top the battle became tighter and closer - and eventually, Firth/Mumford managed to winkle their way past 3851 to win, with Clark/Melnikova in third. Jones/Shawyer climbed to 4th, with Dominic and David Hume in 5th.
For race two, things were a shade more orderly. Firth and Tinsley retired - bit concerned, but I've spoken to the VC this evening and he's had an infection this last week and thought one race would be enough. He's OK. Actually, before launching he mentioned he was having "trouble with his chest", which I imagine is the kind of thing that Jordan might say to me on a cold morning.... Back to the racing - other casualties had been Andy and Andy in the Loan Boat - a broken main halyard, I think. Andy Murphy's proper brand new boat is in the Doctor's again. You may remember his jammed spinnaker halyard in his last Datchet race - well, it happened again at the Grafham Grand Prix, so the riggers at P&B are taking another look. Race two was away a little more tidily this time, and we all fair scorched up the beat. This time, Ian Linder (3851) put his stamp on it all very early - just romped off. The fleet split into two, and the top three, Linder, Firth/Mumford, Jones/Shawyer moved well away from the rest - . The next pack was having a whale of a time though - with the Humes, the Millars, the Stensons and Clark/Melnikova really slugging it out very closely. On the last wing mark, Jones/Shawyer tried hard to close Firth/Mumford but it was not to be. They finished Linder, Firth, Jones. Then there was something of a large gap before the Family Regatta arrived at the finish - and the order there was Humes, Millars, Clarke/Melnikova, Stensons, Bell/Scullion.
Click on the Results and Series tabs on the right hand side of "Datchet Man" for details.....
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