Snow Globe race 3 and 4 report

On Saturday 18^th November the dinghy fleet had their second round their Snow Globe Series. Unfortunately the weather forecast had been looking very windy for the whole week which unfortunately put a lot of competitors off. For those that did come to the RCYC on Saturday were rewarded with the front passing through earlier than predicted and a warm autumn southerly wind of 15 to 20kts. 11 boats made it to the trial of a new start line system which proved very popular. With the southerly it was tricky to provide windward legs on the race course but with a rough figure of 8 course set it proved to be a fairly popular course.

The first race started at dead low water meaning the course was restricted and finding places boats would not run aground going around mark difficult. With a reaching start up river to an inflatable off Prior’s, the Blazes of Charlie Matthews and Malcolm Hutchings showed their love of reaching and gained an early lead over the Merling Rocket of Steve and Alison Hall. Being followed by the Blaze of Jason Phelps and James Hutton-Penman in his ILCA 6 ahead of the RS200’s and other Lasers. There was a short beat to mark number 9 before a spinnaker reach back to an inflatable off the RCYC with the angle a little to tight for the spinnaker boats. Then beating over to Number 7 before a short reach to an inflatable down river, a run across the river and back through the line. The race was fairly uneventful with the Blazes extending their lead and everyone else spreading out over the 3 laps in 30 to 40 minute race. The race was won by Charlie Matthews in his Blaze a minute ahead of Malcolm Hutchings also in a Blaze. Third spot went to James Hutton-Penman who finished 3 minutes behind the leader on corrected.

The second race started shortly after with the wind swinging slightly more to the west. The tide had was now pushing which meant marks were changed between races to provide longer and truer beats. Unfortunately Charlie Mattews on baby duty could not compete in the second race which meant 10 starters. Of the start it was more even between Malcolm Hutchings and Steve and Alison Hall who were match racing around most of the course with spinnakers playing a bigger part of this race. Unfortunately a couple of kite issues meant Steve and Alison dropped back but then sailed very well and caught back up again the finish just behind Malcom on the water. Jason Phelps had a lonely sail in his blaze a couple of minutes back. Behind him James HP and Jo Tribe and Marcus Collingbourne in their RS200 were having their own on the water battle and so was Keith Gilmore in his ILCA6 and Scarlet and Carl Anderson in their RS200. This provided a great racing to watch with lots of changes in positions. After handicaps were calculated Malcolm Hutchings won in his Blaze 50 seconds ahead of James Hutton-Penman in his ILCA 6 and a minute ahead of Keith Gilmore in his ILCA 6.

After 4 races a discard takes affect and it is tight a the top with the current overall results as follows.

1^st, Steve and Alison Hall, 6pts – 2^nd James Hutton-Penman, 6pts – 3^rd Keith Gilmore, 11pts.

Please come to the RCYC as this is a great event to watch from in the club with the racing for two hours with the first start at 10:30.

Thank you to all of the volunteers in the race box and on the support RIBS, without you we would not be able to have such a good event. We are always looking for volunteers so if you would like to support this event please let the RCYC Office know.

Adam Prior

Dinghy Class Captain