Saturday dawned sunny with light winds.
Trevor set an ambitious course travelling as far as 17 for the six boats entered.
The start saw one half of the fleet take the north shore and the other the club side.
There was not much in it by the time the fleet crawled to 28, however on the beat back to 30 there was many place changes. The light winds began to fill in as the fleet approached Darnet Ness again with the fleet split on each side of the river. The tidal gate at 17 enabled Whistle and OCD to extend their lead from the rest of the fleet with Tempest holding off the rest of the fleet in third.
The 25deg wind shifts enables some boats to close the gaps and others to overtake.
All finishing places looked to be settled at 25 before a dramatic wind shift saw the leading boats headed to Hoo Island, which allowed Tempest and Taniwha to over hall the leaders.
Thanks to Toby and Ivor for the safety cover and vocal encouragement for the race……..
With the fleet finishing at 30, the final order was;
1st, Tempest, 2nd, Taniwha, 3rd, OCD, 4th, Whistle, 5th Molly and 6th Gandalf
Thank you David and huge congratulations on your first win of the season (that champagne for 4 weeks in a row probably more than the whole of last year!!!)
Suti (Ivor and Toby ) were on a Dragon duty so that ruled them out from racing,
As Suti weren’t racing it meant Whistle or OCD needing a 1st or 2nd place for them to claim the first trophy of the year. This didn’t go quite to plan as described in the race report meaning that average points for the last race of the series, Suti has won the first trophy of the Season, the Proton Cup.
Next week is the start of the Dragon Flagon with a normal race. The following week is the Medway Regatta so no racing on the Saturday.
If you haven’t booked your tickets for the HandleBards on Thursday 2nd please do so if you intend to come along.