23
The series
started on Sunday with squally conditions, dramatic skies, thunder and
lightning. Amalthea picked the right shifts and
managed to get into different weather patterns to the rest of the fleet, she
dominated the first race to win by over 4 minutes. Persephone crossed the line
second but they were later disqualified after a port and starboard incident
with Aeolus who finished just behind them. The east coast contingent aboard
Monday
dawned with a solid 25 kt breeze which meant that
spinnaker work was a dominant factor. Aeolus and Samaki
managed to keep the errors to a minimum yet still fly their kites at every
opportunity and hence stretch away to win with Persephone finishing 3rd
and
Tuesday drew
lighter conditions for the first 2 race day held out in
Wednesday
saw the breeze reappear and Aeolus again took the bullet from Athena,
Thursday
brought back a solid force 5
With 2 races
to go the series was taking shape, Aeolus held a 5 point lead over Amalthea, who needed to put together a win in the next race
to maintain pressure and keep alive their chances of winning the week.
Friday, St Mawes day, brought some good conditions and a demanding
course with some interesting tides, wind bends and shifts. Samaki
had the better of the first 2 beats and were leading, but Amalthea
were working their way up through the fleet hunting down the required bullet.
They managed to pass Samaki on the last beat and held
on to secure the win with Athena finishing in
3rd in front of Mary B in 4th place. Aeolus managed
to recover from a poor first beat to finish 5th.
The series
was now wide open with Aeolus and Amalthea separated
by 1 pt on 11 and 12, Samaki
and Athena separated by 1 pt (for 3rd and
4th) on 17 and 18, and Ajax and Mary B also separated by 1 pt on 24 and 25 (for 5th and 6th).
A Force 3
South Westerly with a flood tide led to ideal conditions for an exciting final
race of the series on Saturday. Amalthea won the
favoured pin end of the start line with Aeolus shadowing her move. Amalthea managed to tack on a header and cross in front of
the fleet. Aeolus had seen more wind to the left and held on for another
hundred metres before tacking on a 20° left hand shift which gave them a
substantial lead over most of the fleet at the first windward mark. Only
Pintail had gone the same way and it was these 2 boats that led at the start of
the first run down to St. Just. Aeolus stretched away down the run and then
sailed a solid second beat, but over stood the top mark which allowed
Persephone and Samaki to catch up. Amalthea had worked their way back to 5th. The
reach saw Persephone hold her spinnaker better and sail into first place over
the top of Aeolus. After the last leeward mark, Aeolus managed to catch
Persephone, but then she shifted her attention back to Amalthea,
the boat she needed to beat to win the week. Persephone sailed away to take her
first, well deserved, Falmouth week race win, Artemis managed to sail through
into 2nd and Aeolus held on to third which gave her the series win. Amalthea finished in 6th which would be one of her
discards and see her take runner up position for the week, two points behind
Aeolus. Samaki held on to 5th which meant
she was 3rd overall in the week, one point in front of Athena who
finished 4th overall.
Helm Sail Boat Points
1 |
John
Howard & Richard Beaman |
47 |
Aeolus |
14 |
2 |
Roger
Wood |
66 |
Amalthea |
16 |
3 |
Alan
Williams |
28 |
Samaki |
22 |
4 |
David
Liddington |
56 |
Athena |
23 |
5 |
David
Mathewson |
44 |
Ajax |
28 |
6 |
Rob
Geddes Brown |
42 |
Mary B |
31 |