Ten Flying Fifteens took to the line at Datchet today for races 5 and 6 of the 8 race Winter Warm Up Series. The weather hung gloomy and somewhat still over the racecourse,... but at least it was dry!! We had 3-6mph of cool North Easterly breeze, but the highlight was the very busy scene - with 70+ boats competing in the overall event today.... Our local heroes, Mark and Tony, had to miss the day, along with The Millars, The Stensons, the FC (on Paternity break - hurrah!), The Admiral (still on Safari), Andy Murphy and Midnight Rog. That's a real shame for Mark and Tony as they are quite well placed - they need a hot pair of results in the final weekend as they have discarded today.
The Race Officer was deadly keen on punctuality today. Despite the huge queue of boats waiting to get off the jetty, the Fleet was released on time for Race One. The discipline well suited the early birds. Brett and Jonathan shot off into a commanding lead, but there was a good battle behind them. The Humes had a right old tussle with Ian and Kevin, with 3851 taking the second gun by just twelve seconds. Matt and Gareth sailed a corker and came in ahead of the Nicholsons by half a minute. Everyone else had been late to the start area, and processed their way around - mainly through a large pack of Contenders - they looked great, but not really the conditions for them either.
Race Two saw everyone start on time and the pack slithered through the gate in tight formation. It turns out that "right" was the way to go, and again the lead developed between Brett/Jonathan, Ian/Kevin and Dom/Non-Dom . Nicholson and Nicholson seemed to drop out for some reason and went for the DNF option. That's not to say much wasn't going on behind - there was place changing going on by the bucketload back there. Steve and Simon were having a really good day in their new boat, "Black n Blue" and Mervyn with Xavier seems to have got to grips with light wind settings in their new boat too. At the final leeward mark there was much consternation at the rounding, with Richard/Howard taking places from Steve/Simon, Mervyn/Xavier and The Russians. Looked pretty colourful from our boat! In the last triangle there was much battling between Mervyn/Xavier and Richard/Howard with places changing several times in the patchy breeze - Mervyn and Xavier got it though, with a very cool display for big boys in a boat.
Brett and Jonathan are well clear in the overall standings. We are showing 15 boats as entered the series, and the real tussle is between The Humes and Ian/Kevin. Dom and Non-Dom are lying a good second to Brett, but if Ian/Kevin put in another strong showing next week they might just pip them. Further down the pack Mark/Tony and Matt/Gareth are level pegging for 5th and Steve/Simon are level pegging with The Stensons in 10th. Lots to play for in the final event, next weekend.
