Light to pointless

Frustration on day three of the Melges 24 Nationals in Torquay

Waiting around and frustration epitomised the third day of racing in Torquay at the Melges 24 Nationals.

The event, hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, was today held in weather better suited to the holiday makers than the competitors who lacked the vital ingredient for sailing – wind.

Race officer Martin Wells-Brown started the first race in around four knots of wind with the beat towards a mark off Goodrington Beach.

An early split soon developed in the fleet with the majority choosing to head right including RTYC’s John Pollard who was first to the windward mark. But with the wind dying off and shifting round, most of the fleet was left making painfully slow progress down the run and the race was shortened to just one round.

First to the finish was Paul Manning on Deep Blue, with Pollard also loosing places to Simon May on Envy and Nigel Grogan on Helmut Rises Again.

With the sun starting to come out, a sea breeze could be seen developing and the start of the second race was postponed waiting for it to come in. A general recall again characterised the start with the second attempt under a black flag and five boats disqualified for being over the line.

The majority of those left found more wind and a good lift towards the left hand side of the beat with Quentin Strauss on PIPC-Project Specialists showing the way followed by Pollard and Grogan. Strauss and Pollard kept ahead down the run and the next beat, with Norwegian competitor Jens A Wathne on Party Girl hot on their heels.

At the end of the second run, Pollard and Strauss were almost neck and neck as they reached towards the line. But at the last gybe, Pollard managed to get inside Strauss to take the gun with Manning and Grogan following behind.

With the wind shifting round and again dying off, a recall was held on the third race and another wait for breeze ensued. The race finally got underway with Tony Jaffa on Henri Lloyd squeezing in at the start. But having cut it too close in the light breeze, he found himself tangled up with the anchor rope from the committee boat and unable to make good progress.

But he was saved from his bad start when the wind died off even more and with the rest of the fleet half way up the first beat, the decision to abandon racing for the day was made.

Results

Pos	Boat	Owner	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Tot
1	PIPC-Project Specialists	Quentin Strauss	Stu Rix	1	2	2	1	8	3	5	2	16
2	Barbarians	Stuart Simpson	Rob Smith	8	1	1	3	1	1	7	5	19
3	Deep Blue	Tim Tavinor	Richard Stenhouse	16	5	3	5	10	4	1	3	31
4	Xcellent	John & Kate Pollard	John Pollard	7	13	4	11	3	5	4	1	35
5	The Dogs………	Allen Brown	Allen Brown	4	3	5	4	7	8	9	11	40
6	Helmut Rises Again	Nigel Grogan	Nigel Grogan	10	9	9	9	5	24	3	4	49
7	White Rabbit	Simon Henning	Michael Hemming	6	16	7	2	2	6	14	14	51
8	Envy	Simon May	Dean Argeant	15	21	12	6	9	13	2	9	66
9	The Badger	Paul Lovejoy	Paul Lovejoy	3	11	14	10	16	2	22	16	72
10	Party Girl	Jens A Wathne	Jens A Wathne	5	8	11	19	12	15	11	10	72
11	Easy Tiger	Tim Collins	Tim Collins	9	20	8	15	11	11	8	13	75
12	Ali 2	Ann Ashworth	Ann Ashworth	21	19	6	7	4	10	20	12	78
13	WKD Blue	Joe Woods	Joe Woods	13	22	10	8	6	12	13	17	79
14	Certifiable	Ian Watts	Ian Watts	11	4	22	21	19	7	24	6	90
15	The Bees…….	D. Myatt/P. Treliving	David Myatt	19	6	17	22	15	17	6	15	95
16	Hooligan	Norman Broom	Norman Broom	2	12	19	17	20	14	15	19	98
17	Wild Thing	David Franks	David Franks	12	14	23	12	13	18	23	7	99
18	Fiver	Ancilla Clark	Robert Llewellyn	14	15	18	13	22	21	17	8	106
19	Comfortably Numb	Andrew Dellow	Simon Dobson	20	10	24	16	18	9	12	25	109
20	UK Panasonic	Adrian Peach	Adrian Peach	17	7	21	20	17	20	16	25	118
21	Henri Lloyd	Tony Jaffa	Tony Jaffa	18	18	13	14	14	22	21	25	120
22	Formulacars.co.uk	Tim Jones	Tim Jones	22	24	15	23	23	23	10	18	134
23	Moist and Wet	Simon Benest/Sean Fellows	Simon Benest	23	17	20	24	21	16	19	25	140
24	Ramshackle	Steve Williams/Dave Farrimond	Dave Farrimond	24	23	16	18	24	19	18	25	142