Sea Interclub Series at Highcliffe Sailing Club

Highcliffe SC Sea Interclub Racing © Samantha Acton

Highcliffe SC Sea Interclub Racing © Samantha Acton

Fluky conditions test sea sailors

Despite a rather limp forecast, Christchurch SC, Mudeford SC and Highcliffe SC all met up in Christchurch Bay for races 5 &6 of their Sea Interclub Series. Like a pre race warm up, just getting down the Run and out to sea with light SE winds fighting a strong flood tide saw everyone arrive at the start line battle ready and raring to go. With the wind turning out to be better than expected, although still light, it made for some challenging upwind conditions against the chop but after getting away to a clean start it was Christchurch's Atkins (Finn) who lead the charge to the windward mark, with fellow sailor Arnell (OK) and Acton (Laser) tucked in tightly behind.

Racing a square course, Mudeford's Reid (Radial) kept in close contact with the 3 leading boats with Highcliffe's Wells (Radial) and Bell (Europe) maintaining touching distance throughout. It was Atkins however who never relinquished his lead from start to finish taking the line honours after 3 laps followed in by Arnell who finished just 24 seconds ahead of Acton. Despite the close racing however, on correction Atkins had not done quite enough handing the win to team mate Arnell, with Reid's persistence gaining him a 2nd place with Acton keeping his hard earned 3rd place.

With a heavy pin end bias attracting all the sailors to one end of the line, the start of the second race saw some start line argy bargy as several boats tried to squeeze in and claim their spot at the mark. For a moment it looked like Reid was set to 'win the pin' but Acton's attempts to dive into the gap ended in both boats being pushed head to wind. It was Reid who recovered first, tacking on to port and getting away from the line leaving Acton to pay his dues and complete his 360. Choosing to avoid the fun and games by starting at the Committee Boat end were Bell and Arnell who got both a clean start and clean wind and sped off to the windward mark.

The fickle light winds however were clearly getting bored and by the second round simply decided to go and play elsewhere. The Race Team crossed fingers and toes and let the fleet continue onto the last round but eventually hoisted the shortened course flag on the beat as the wind simply forgot to blow in small pockets of the bay. Acton, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, losing out to Bell and Reid as they recovered well capitalising on the slight wind shift in order to gain some places. It was Atkins lead, established from the start that served him well in the end, crossing the line with the dying puffs of wind as the rest of the fleet struggled to cross the line. In the end after correction race 6 of the series went to Atkins, with Bell in 2nd and Arnell clinging on to 3rd place.

Overall Results: