Today was probably one of the best days of the year, certainly for sailing, we had wall to wall sunshine and a half decent north easterly breeze which remained fairly constant throughout the day, varying only a little in strength and gradually swinging slightly more easterly as we progressed through the races, which necessitated changing the upwind mark a couple of times to keep a fair beat, which we did very well since there was always a challenge to make the best of the conditions. Courses were simply upwind / downwind with no spreaders. out from the start eastwards, firstly to red 3, back to the middle white start mark, back to red 3, followed by a long run into the bay to round red 1 , finishing with beat or close reach to the line.
The line bias shifted race to race as the wind veered slightly side to side but this gave an overall fair start and as the wind moved round after lunch we brought the beat more into the middle of the lake.
As always at Two Islands there were patches of wind shadow to avoid and there were definite patches of stronger wind but sometimes a beat up the centre of the lake paid , other times hugging the shore paid. Funnily enough, the top skippers seemed to pick the right one each time but sadly some of us mere mortals didn't, in fact some of us seemed doomed to pick the wrong way every time.
Numbers were a bit down today, mainly due to the Easter holidays with many regular skippers either on holiday or with relatives, still the seven of us had some very enjoyable and competitive racing, whilst soaking up the rays, which makes a nice change from transmitter mitts ,wooly hats and thermals.
John Burgoine was utterly dominant today, discarding two second places to give a perfect 11 points from 11 qualifying races. John Simmonds, not quite as consistent as usual and probably lacking a bit of practice still managed to sail well enough to push Peter Shepherd into third place, who was forced to retire from one of the races with a dead battery.
Stephen Wheeler again sailed very well but unfortunately suffered with a burned out sail servo, again missing a couple of finishes, whilst he carried out repairs, which no doubt didn't help his overall score.
Geoff Raygada
The line bias shifted race to race as the wind veered slightly side to side but this gave an overall fair start and as the wind moved round after lunch we brought the beat more into the middle of the lake.
As always at Two Islands there were patches of wind shadow to avoid and there were definite patches of stronger wind but sometimes a beat up the centre of the lake paid , other times hugging the shore paid. Funnily enough, the top skippers seemed to pick the right one each time but sadly some of us mere mortals didn't, in fact some of us seemed doomed to pick the wrong way every time.
Numbers were a bit down today, mainly due to the Easter holidays with many regular skippers either on holiday or with relatives, still the seven of us had some very enjoyable and competitive racing, whilst soaking up the rays, which makes a nice change from transmitter mitts ,wooly hats and thermals.
John Burgoine was utterly dominant today, discarding two second places to give a perfect 11 points from 11 qualifying races. John Simmonds, not quite as consistent as usual and probably lacking a bit of practice still managed to sail well enough to push Peter Shepherd into third place, who was forced to retire from one of the races with a dead battery.
Stephen Wheeler again sailed very well but unfortunately suffered with a burned out sail servo, again missing a couple of finishes, whilst he carried out repairs, which no doubt didn't help his overall score.
Geoff Raygada
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Wee Nip Open Meeting Round 1 - EPSC
30th March 2019
A sunny but light and variable wind greeted the eleven entrants to Emberton Park for the first of two open meetings to be held at our sailing club this year.
A weed free lake and gloriously dry day made for an enjoyable days sailing with the top two places being keenly fought over between John Burgoine and Keith Coxon. In fact after a break for lunch and having completed 16 races, Keith’s sub total was less than John’s, though fortunately for John his discards gave him a lower final score and hence a well earned first place.
Third place went to John Simmons who also had high discards, due to a servo failure, but his nimble fingers were soon at work installing a working replacement and true to his usual form, John was still able to achieve a podium place.
Thanks must go to Mike Ewart who, having sold his own Wee Nip volunteered to act as Race Officer for the day, thus allowing Alan to campaign his own ‘Glengoine’ on home waters.
Thanks too to Dave Pace for manning the park gate and assisting Mike with recording finishers. Colin’s wife Linda who made a delicious sponge cake, devoured eagerly, post race, by tired yachties, and sailing club commodore Rob Bell for supporting the event and photographing the action from the club rowing dinghy.
Prizes for the day had a definite chocolate theme, after all Easter is fast approaching but perhaps there should also have been prizes for the three skippers who after 16 heats somehow contrived to attain equal points, hopefully their placings are in the correct order.
30th March 2019
A sunny but light and variable wind greeted the eleven entrants to Emberton Park for the first of two open meetings to be held at our sailing club this year.
A weed free lake and gloriously dry day made for an enjoyable days sailing with the top two places being keenly fought over between John Burgoine and Keith Coxon. In fact after a break for lunch and having completed 16 races, Keith’s sub total was less than John’s, though fortunately for John his discards gave him a lower final score and hence a well earned first place.
Third place went to John Simmons who also had high discards, due to a servo failure, but his nimble fingers were soon at work installing a working replacement and true to his usual form, John was still able to achieve a podium place.
Thanks must go to Mike Ewart who, having sold his own Wee Nip volunteered to act as Race Officer for the day, thus allowing Alan to campaign his own ‘Glengoine’ on home waters.
Thanks too to Dave Pace for manning the park gate and assisting Mike with recording finishers. Colin’s wife Linda who made a delicious sponge cake, devoured eagerly, post race, by tired yachties, and sailing club commodore Rob Bell for supporting the event and photographing the action from the club rowing dinghy.
Prizes for the day had a definite chocolate theme, after all Easter is fast approaching but perhaps there should also have been prizes for the three skippers who after 16 heats somehow contrived to attain equal points, hopefully their placings are in the correct order.
