Racing was close with quite a bit of place changing between
the leading 5 boats in all three of the races.
Fran Gifford and Jenny Wilkins won the first race from Will and
Arthur Henderson, with the lead changing on many occasions until
New Isabelle ran gently up Zippy's transom and had to do a 720.
Third was Steve Broom and James Muir sailing very impressively
in their first time out in a Twelve.
The second race saw Will and Arthur lead from the start and build
up a good margin for error. Chasing hard were John Thornton and
Lizzy Wilkins who eventually slipped down to 4th place with David
Wilkins and Kate Meadowcroft taking 2nd place from Fran &
Jenny.
With everything to sail for in the final race two further
laps were added. Fran & Jenny were early leaders followed
closely by David & Kate, a coming together of these two boats
at the 3rd mark left Fran doing turns. Meanwhile the Hendersons
had got an inside overlap on David and Katy at one of the many
gybe marks, followed by a nice puff of wind which took her clear,
with John & Lizzy getting through to 2nd place. As the race
went on Fran & Jenny worked their way back through the fleet,
getting well in tune with the shifts and puffs and closing the
gap on the Hendersons fast but running out of laps before being
able to take them. After much swapping of position between 3rd
& 4th John & Lizzy eventually got the better of David
& Kate. Steve & James sailed consistently to take 5th.
1st beat - race 3
Photos by Katharine Cherrill
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