RACE REPORT - SATURDAY 24 August 2024
Chris Tattersall
Photos by Katie McHugh
Winter Sprint Racing
By Andrew Simpson
This was the last of the sprint race series, and the annual DBSC Working Bee in the morning ensured a good turnout, with helpers hanging around to sail in the afternoon, meaning a fleet of around 40 took to the water.
The morning weather was a little overcast with the odd shower and a Northerly breeze which the course was set to. By the time racing started at 1.00PM, the clouds had cleared, the sun was out, and the wind had shifted towards the NW and strengthened. The course was adjusted accordingly. The wind continued even more West for a while, meaning a big left bias on the first race, but returned back to a steadier NW of between 10 and 20 kts for the rest of the afternoon. Once the start line was tweaked again, the final 3 races of 5 were on a pretty true course.
We decided to start the Standards ahead of the Radials to avoid them sailing over the Radials, but Sylvie Stannage managed to sail right through that fleet anyway and won by just pipping the first full rig on the line. After that the full rigs pulled their fingers out and finished ahead of the very fast Sylvie who led the Radials home all afternoon. Hamish Crabb mostly led in the Standards with Luke Parker close by - Luke winning one race despite a 360-penalty handed out by the PRO just before the finish line due to a start line indiscretion.
Races ran to 20 mins, so everyone had a good workout and warmup in preparation for the season start.
Thanks to Robert Bruce (LTRaR), Kate McHugh (COTD) and James Gosling (CoCOTD) for their assistance
