A nice gentle breeze for training but unfortunately very little in the afternoon for the Trophy race.
It was great to see the advanced trainees out on the water doing a tacking and jibing slalom and getting better and better as they progressed well done everyone. There was only a small group in the begginer trainees who had a go at capsize drills.
In the afternoon the race start was delayed in the hope of a sea breeze coming in however the breeze stayed in the N and NW with a bit of west so at 14:22 Helen decided to get a race in anyway.
The fleet of five Sabres three NS14s and two B14s got away in a light 5 knot WNW breeze with the occasional stronger gust aproaching 10 knots.
The Fleet were all bunched up on the start boat end with the starboard tack favoured, part way up the leg there was a breif westerly shift which favoured the boats furthur west and ahead of the others and this is where Phantom got through Early Warning to be first to the top mark with the all one up NS14s not far behing and even the leading Sabre TBA was in the mix.
It was so light at the top mark Phantom delayed the hoist to see where the breeze might be going next and Early Warning pounced and imediatly hoisted the kite with just enough breeze to ghost into the lead but the breeze dropped and shifted so down with the kites and by the wing mark Phantom was back in the lead. The two boats headed for the bottom mark close together but struggling for a bit of consistant breeze.
At the bottom mark Early Warning was again in the lead and the breeze tempted the boats to re hoist the kites but that was short lived as it reverted to a windward. In the NS14s Noiseworks was doing very well ahead of the other two and just behind the B14s as was TBA who was on fire and mixing it with the NS's.
As the boats headed up the windward leg of the sausage the start boat moved to the bottom make to shorten the course and finish the race so it was up to the top and then to the finish.
By the top mark Early Warning was still hanging on to a slender lead with just the one leg to go and Noiseworks and Serenity close leading the NS fleet with TBA just astern and Wasabi not far behind.
As the two B14s approached the finish Early warning was still in the lead but with the outgoing tide and a late wind shift could not lay the finish line, Phantom did a crash kite drop and managed to squeak past the bow line of the Finish boat to take the gun. Early Warning eventually got the kite down and sailed back around the finish boat to be 3min 28 seconds in arrears and in the fickle breeze next home was TBA beating Serenity who had got through Noiseworks with Wasabi next ahead of Viva la Vida and Apisca next with Wind Wizard well back and on the Edge retiring.
On handicap
A great win to TBA Chris Keil from Wasabi Guy McDougall second and Noiseworks Stephen Townsend in third.
Next week is Training week 5 and Pennants 7 & 8.
