The Invitation Race was a scorcher with only 7 starters and 4 finishers, Flying Flamingo winning the Uffa Fox Trophy

 

The Invitation Races Results are in a separate location:

 

Day 2 was a big day!  The invitation race was due to start early and there would have been a 1-2 hour break between that and race 1 of the series. The race committee elected to delay the start of the invitation race so that there was no need for crews to return to shore, which was met with approval from the crews. 

 

On shore many crews were debating whether to go out at all due to the strong winds. Winds had only slightly eased from yesterday. The forecast was for 20-25 knot SE winds. Decisions about whether to forgo the invitation race and only compete in race 1 and 2 of the National series or compete in all races. 

 

17 boats took to the start line of Race 1. The breeze was strong and the swell was short, sharp and the frequency was inconsistent making it hard to make our way upwind. The course laid was for a windward leeward return, followed by a triangle to the finish.  The reaches were firehose conditions!

 

The course for Race 2 was a 2 lap windward leeward. The breeze was roughly the same, but gusts were regularly coming through causing havoc. There were boats on their sides and spinnakers blown out but the downwind runs were exciting. Only 1 boat in the top 4 finished with their spinnakers up. There were only 13 finishers with some electing to not stay on the water for race 2. 

 

 

 

Report by Chris Howell, who is also competing.