SUNSHINE AND A STEADY BREEZE GREET SAILORS IN THE FIRST RVYC RACE SERIES OF THE YEAR

Marking the first race series of the year for The Royal Victoria Yacht Club, sailors were welcomed with blissful sunshine and a steady south easterly breeze, which was gusty at times peaking to around 17 knots. The Cruiser & MOCRA fleet enjoyed a competitive race with a mixture of long and short legs to keep the crews busy. Orca and Nice Tri had a great start on the pin end, with Milly Mo and Strider in close pursuit. Unfortunately, Nice Tri suffered gear failure resulting in an early exit to the race. Strider had a three-boat length lead over Milly Mo by the first mark, but it was not to be, as Milly Mo secured line honours after just 59 minutes and 20 seconds. On corrected time, 1st Milly Mo, 2nd Orca, 3rd Strider, 4th Nice Tri (DNF). The Fast Handicap dinghies were next off the start at 1540 hrs. A mix of ILCAs, double-handers, foilers and more graced the course. This was also the first time under club racing conditions that leeward gates have been used, giving sailors a choice of marks to round before starting their windward legs. The RS 400 of Neil Griffiths and Mark Turner held a consistent lead throughout the race with Andy Ramsey following close behind. Soon came the ILCAs separated by only 2 minutes. Positions on corrected time were 1st Charlie White, 2nd Sally Ratcliffe, 3rd Thomas White. Squibs were up next with a rather line-shy start as the pin end still being favoured by the competitors. They endured a tricky windward beat as the breeze came off Woodside Bay leaving gusts and lulls for them to navigate through. The downwind leg saw all 6 boats bow to stern chasing the leader Osprey. A tight leeward gate resulted in close racing and another challenging windward beat towards the line. After 3 laps, the results were; 1st Osprey (Chris Gear & Sue Mclaughlin), 2nd Liz Whizz (Julie & Ray Prime), 3rd Panther (Ian Morgan & Ross Owen). The final class saw the Slow Handicap dinghies speed off following the same windward, leeward gate course as both the Fast Dinghies and Squibs. By this point, the tide has increased running towards the west which made navigating the wind shifts a challenge. Both ILCA 4s finished strong with less than 30 seconds separating them at the finish line. The first race finished; 1st Isla Stone, 2nd Leo Stone, 3rd Megan Turner in the RS Tera Sport. While the conditions were favourable, a second race for the Fast, Slow and Squib fleets was set. This time the course was a single lap sprint race where the smallest mistakes would get punished. Bradley Mclaughlin showed the dinghies a taste of true speed as he shot past the whole fleet on his foils, this time navigating the correct course. There was close racing one again across all the fleets with the Fast Handicap dinghies ending 1st Charlie White, 2nd Thomas White, 3rd Sally Ratcliffe. Squibs 1st Osprey, 2nd Liz Whizz, 3rd Panther. Slow Handicap 1st Isla Stone, 2nd Leo Stone, 3rd Megan Turner.