Upper Tamar Lake Sailing Club race reports — June 4

AM:?Sailboat 6

THERE was just sufficient wind to entice eight sailors out onto the lake for the midday race which was won by Laser’s Jane Anderson.

The race started with a short beat towards the first buoy at Dam Green and Anderson was first away across the line in her Laser and by virtue of this good start was able to avoid being blanketed by other boats in the fleet, so that she was already gliding downwind into the distance past Zebra buoy and heading towards West, whilst some helms were still trying to coax their craft round the first mark.

James Pollard’s Laser was chasing in second place, with Nathan Pollard’s smaller Topper dinghy in third. Thereafter it was a case of trying to second-guess where the slightly stronger patches of wind might be found, as the fluky breeze varied between south-south-east and south-south-west. At times the Devon side and then the Cornwall bank was the favoured location and it was a case of being in the right place at the right time.

As reservoir levels are now starting to drop a little, one danger for unwary helms was getting into unexpectedly shallow water and several dinghies temporarily grounded, although they all managed to get unstuck and continue their race.

With the threat of the wind dying to leave the fleet becalmed, the race officer, Phil Tucker, shortened the race, leaving Anderson first across the line and the runaway winner on handicap, well over three minutes ahead of second-placed James Pollard. Nathan Pollard was a comfortable third, but Robin Spiller only just managed to make fourth place, a mere two seconds ahead of Linda Spiller on corrected time.

1. J Anderson (Laser); 2. J Pollard (Laser); 3. N Pollard (Topper); 4. R Spiller (Streaker); 5. L Spiller (Laser); 6. A Comber and J Weller (Enterprise); 7. G Floyd (Solo). N Buckett and B Pollard (Bosun) retired.

PM: Pursuit 3

AFTER calculation of the combined boat and helm handicap, John Savage’s Otter dinghy set off on the 65-minute pursuit race a clear 8-minutes ahead of the next boat in the ten-strong fleet, which was Nathan Pollard’s Topper.

Helms in the faster Laser dinghies were faced with having to start around 20-minutes after John, a daunting prospect despite their faster boat speed.

Although the wind had strengthened somewhat over lunch, there were still calm patches on the water in places and choosing the right place to tack on the beats could make huge differences.

At one point the Bosun of Nicky Buckett and Brian Pollard were overtaken by a string of boats, but they then regained several places by finding the windier areas. For a while, the Bosun held the lead, but about 10-minutes before the end of the race, Robin Spiller’s Streaker overtook them and went well clear, henceforth staying ahead to achieve a popular victory.

As the seconds ticked down to the final horn, Jane Anderson had moved through from starting last, to almost catch the Bosun as both boats headed towards the downwind mark at Pinky, but Nicky and Brian just held on to second place.

1. R Spiller (Streaker); 2. N Buckett and B Pollard (Bosun); 3. J Anderson (Laser); 4. N Pollard (Topper); 5. A Comber and J Weller (Enterprise); 6. J Pollard (Laser); 7. J Savage (Otter); 8. L Spiller (Laser); 9. G Floyd (Solo); P Whybrow (Solo) retired.

Thanks were expressed to Phil Tucker for his work as race officer and to Mandy Pollard for her assistance with the computer.