Day 3 Centenary Vane A National Championship

On day three, the wind was described as ‘all over the place’ but largely around the SSW and W directions with occasional bursts towards SW. However, the avenue of trees in the SW corner often made starts at the downwind end ‘interesting’…..

The direction is good at Gosport, giving some exciting tacking duels, where boats crisscrossed, banked, and attempted to avoid their opponents. As many may know failing to avoid your opponent just after you have left the bank will lose you the race! Some took risks and were successful, others………

The race teams, now in their stride, worked effectively to have a continuous stream of boats on the water or ready to go, So in spite of the great number of re sails a further six heats were completed. As can be seen from the results sheet, the race leader, Graham Butler and mate Keith Wiseman retain their position, but with a slimmer 2 point lead from Chris Harris and Graham Bantock. Martin Roberts and mate Andrea Roberts, and Shaun Wyeth, Peter Fothergill with mate Paul Edwards and Derek Priestley with mate Lisa Priestley hot on their heels.

An analysis of the scores demonstrates that quite a few skippers are losing more points on the down wind spinnaker runs than on the beats. There is some contribution from the effects of the Avenue of trees but also from the variation in wind direction and strength along the course. The famous Gosport ‘knuckle’ lived up to its reputation frustrating the efforts of skippers and mates to speedily move their boats on. Conversely a couple of skippers were losing far more beats than runs, although some by a narrow margin. There were two dead heats, as well.

A huge thank you to Jeanette Geldard and her team for providing boxed lunches for the competitors and race team, packed with interesting finger food.

Tomorrow, Wednesday is the Yachting Monthly cup race. The forecast is not good so it may be necessary to restrict the event to beats. The forecast is not always right!……..

Jacque Cook