Then there were two

With high winds taking their toll only two Laser SB3s finished the Royal Lymington Y.C Spring Series

With the Lymington Spring Series starting two weeks later than Hamble, all the boats were eager to get out on the water to strut their stuff. With a quick ten minute sail out to the committee boat stationed off of “Berthon” race buoy, the breeze was a good 18-25 knots on in a SW direction with a strong ebb tide – the western Solent played its part in creating a great playground for the SB3’s.

With confusion being rife on the first start, everyone made a good start apart from Explosion and WoosterStock.

With Scallywag and Saboteur leading the fleet to the correct buoy and Sybarite searching for an orange inflatable which didn’t exist, the leaders got away.

With no spreader mark it was a quick bear away and the kites were up. At the first buoy it was Scallywag holding the lead from Saboteur, followed by Red Kite, WoosterStock, Explosion then Sybarite. With some slick crew work WoosterStock took the lead briefly though the colour of the new boat notably took them to the wrong buoy, where Scallywag was given a reprieve before Saboteur finally overtook held the lead for the next lap, and took the first bullet.

With a postponement between the two races and the visibility reduced all the SB3’s made the start with the committee boat end being favoured – amazingly all boats made it to the line and crossed cleanly – and ontime!! With the first windward leg seeing the wind steadily building with gusts of over 30 knots the fleet rounded the mark together – Saboteur gaining a few boats lengths.

With the fleet all heading downwind and with incoming gusts of over 33 knots, it was Saboteur and Woosterstock left standing as many decided to clean there spreaders after the winter break and deciding that the warmth of the dock favoured. With kites up, and both boats synchronised gybing, speeds in excess of 18.5 knots lead for perfect conditions. WoosterStock took the lead while Saboteur had a brief wipe-out – whilst WoosterStock was confident they had the race in the bag, once again being attracted to anything orange - went around the inflatable which was wrong and Saboteur took back the lead, finishing the next lap without any drama especially on the final downwind leg.