Great conditions at Datchet today... For the most part we had bright sunshine and Force 2 to 4... with plenty enough shifts to make it interesting!! Ten boats rigged and nine made it to the start - Andy Murphy had a staffing problem!! For a change, most of us made it to the start area in good time. The PRO laid a pretty long line, but with the heavy starboard bias the fleet packed in at the Committee Boat, close enough to check out the small print.... Steve and Simon, sailing well today, were unfortunately OCS and probably so close to the PRO that he blocked out visibility of the rest of the sinners! The fleet pretty much leapt out of the box and again it was Brett Dingwall, sailing this week with Grayson Eacott, making the pace. He was pretty much hounded though my Mark and Tony and at the finish line just TWO seconds separated these two teams, a small part of a boat length!!! Fantastic stuff....!! There was plenty going on next in the fleet too with Dominic and David pushing for third with Richard and Howard, with the latter eventually coming out on top.
The skies darkened for race two and the breeze pepped up a notch. The fleet crashed though the biased gate again - this time Matt and Gareth being over. No further damage to the start order and for the first time in this Event, Brett and Grayson went the wrong way... No holding back Mark and Tony though who took a handsome lead and were followed home by The Humes and Helen with Vice Cap'n 'Anson. The Stensons, who like Steve and Simon were sailing very well today, retired with a shredded genoa sheet.
Overall, this left Brett Dingwall and Jonathan Clark with a seriously great series win. Between the home teams of Mark/Tony and Dominic/David, it was really very close - a dead heat on 16 points, with the second place going to Mark and Tony on count-back, and Dominic/David in third. We had sixteen teams enter the series and an excellent series of races in seriously varied conditions.
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