Cruiser Spring Series

The Cruiser Class Spring Series concluded on Sunday with the strongest breeze of the series with gusts ready to catch the unwary. With the first race in the series abandoned due to a lack of wind it was all to play for in Class 1 with three boats tied on points and only 1 point separating first and second in class 3. The “Winner takes all” race started on time from the club line at 10:00am with class 1 sailing course 33 (as far as Queenborough Spit) and class 3 sailing course 23 (as far as buoy 12).
With the strong breeze and only a couple of hundred yards until the bend in the river brought the wind angle closer spinnakers were left in their bags until Gillingham Reach when the faster boats were able to stretch out. Class 1 was led away by “Mercury” who showed an impressive turn of speed once out of the lee of St Mary’s Island. The race was on to see if she could save her time on the smaller “Reefer X” and “The Works”. The pace in class 3 was more sedate but “Astral” and “Muskrat Ramble” were closely matched on the way down river.
The long beat back from Queenborough against the ebb tide played into the hands of “Mercury” who took full advantage and won by a couple of minutes on corrected time from “Reefer X”. “The Works” narrowly avoided a major disaster when a bottle screw parted on the leg back by the old BP oil jetty. Unable to continue the race they were lucky not to lose the mast.
In class 3 “Astral” coped with the gusty conditions better than “Muskrat Ramble” winning by just over 2 minutes on corrected time.
Overall Class 1 was won by “Mercury” from “Reefer X” and Class 2 was won by “Astral” from “Muskrat Ramble”