Lightning Southerns

Mal Hartland retires to pub with a race to spare

Glorious weather and good race organisation greeted the Lightning sailors who ventured to Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy for the Lightning Southern Championships on the weekend of 12-13 July.

After a short postponement to allow the sea breeze to fill in the first race was started from a long line. The starboard (committee boat) end of the line was favoured and Steve Oliver made a good start, battling with Mal Hartland for first place on the first half of the beat. However, it was Hartland who led round the windward mark to pull out a comfortable lead by the gybe mark. The battle for third and fourth continued between Mike Brown and Caroline Key, with Brown taking the upper hand on the 2nd lap to take 3rd place in the race.

After a fast turnaround, the 2nd race started with a port end bias to the line. Hartland started to leeward of Oliver, giving him the freedom to gain better boat speed up the beat. Oliver dropped back into a leebow and tacked off to clear, leaving Hartland ahead, once again at the windward mark. Continuing the battle from the 1st race, Key and Brown remained locked together. Oliver sailed a great 2nd beat on the favoured port side of the course, to close on Hartland, eventually closing him down on the final run. Hartland anticipated the move and sailed high of the mark, forcing Oliver to take the outside, before gybing twice to gain the lead Oliver into the final mark. This was enough to secure the win, followed by Oliver with Key beating Brown for 3rd place.

After a night of entertainment with the Supanova fleet, Sunday saw a significant increase in wind building to over 20 knots during the day, giving entertainment to competitors and spectators alike.

Race 3 saw Hartland lead up the 1st beat, with Oliver ending his challenge by capsizing on the approach to the windward mark. With the race all but won, the battle was for 2nd between Oliver and Key. The two were locked together for two laps, before Key handed 2nd to Oliver by rolling in to windward on the final run, also allowing Brown to pass. She then capsized 50 yards short of the finish line to also allow David Harland past for fourth.

Race 4, sailed back to back and Hartland only needed a third or better to secure the championships. Enjoying the conditions once again, Hartland opened a sizeable lead in the race which was shortened to only one lap, and even the unforced error of hitting the leeward mark was not enough to prevent a clean sweep for Hartland, with Oliver once again taking 2nd. Key again took 3rd with Harland 4th.

With the event already won, Hartland retired to a local pub for the 5th race, leaving Oliver to take his first race win of the weekend, with Harland taking a surprising 2nd and Brown 3rd.