Page 28 - Yachter Winter 2019

28 RACING REPORT
RSYC WEYMOUTH DOUBLE 13th/14th July 2019
The forecast for the whole weekend was for, at best, a light breeze and at times no wind at all, but the forecasters didn’t seem to be able to agree, even with themselves, about the detail.
Some entrants decided that they had more important activities after all and only 15
of the 26 entries arrived at the start line
at 0745 for the start of leg 1 near Royal Thames buoy in the central Solent.As so often happens, the forecast was not a good match to reality and those who turned out were in for a pleasant surprise!
Leg 1 – Solent to Weymouth
– Saturday 13th July
At the start things were already looking up. The wind was around 12 knots from the North.The 9 boats in classes 2 and 4 were the first away at 0750 followed by the 6
in classes 1 and 3 at 0800. A straight run down the Western Solent with the ebbing tide made for a quick passage down to the Needles followed by a reach across to St Alban’s Head and all the way to Weymouth.
First to arrive at the finish line was Jo Jo Gunne from class 1, followed only 1 minute
later by Escapade from class 3 then High Jinks from class 2. Jo Jo Gunne, Skua IV, Hadaway and Bedouin were the winners in class 1,2,3 & 4 respectively.
By 1445 everyone was over the line and heading for Portland Marina for a relaxing and sociable overnight stay.
Leg 2 - Weymouth to Solent
– Sunday 14th July
If Saturday’s forecast had been disappointing, Sunday’s was worse.We were expecting light winds, starting from the East and moving South before fading out in the afternoon. After consultation with the competitors
we decided to add a starboard rounding of North Head buoy to the course and ask competitors to take extra times at both Anvil Point and North Head so that we could retrospectively shorten at one of them if the wind died completely.
The start back was due to start at 0945. We picked a start line as close to the entrance to Portland Harbour as we could find and we arrived there to find the wind, which at 0500 had been 20 knots, was now around 5 knots. Enough to get us started but promising a slow race.To help us along, the wind was from the East and veering rapidly, and the tide was ebbing!