Spirit of Cape Town hangs in there

10 knot day two at the Laser SB3 Nationals in Brighton

Day 2 of racing at the Neilson Active Holiday UK Laser SB3 National Championships started with a steady 10 knots of wind off the coast of Brighton this morning. However, as the day progressed, the wind became less settled and eventually dropped leaving the Race Officer with a tricky job in hand. Rob Gullan and the Parkway Pirates won the first race of the day, with Rola Trac in second and Spirit of Cape Town in third place.

“During the second race the wind veered left before shifting hard right on the second beat,” explained PRO, Peter Saxton. A number of boats were caught out in Race 2 with the massive shift, but Chris Darling, George Yeomans and Andy Shaw managed to battle their way to the front of the fleet and took a well deserved bullet, with In Your Pocket second and 3 Sad Old Blokes finishing third. Rola Trac and Spirit of Cape Town both lost out in Race 2 and finished in the late-teens.

Many of the competitors came ashore claiming a day of snakes and ladders and there was faint disappointed not to have enjoyed a repeat performance of yesterday’s weather conditions, perhaps not physically tired but certainly mentally tired having worked hard all day picking the shifts and working their boats to achieve maximum possible speed.

3 Fat Lads, helmed by Martin Wadsworth was joined for Day 2 by the Harbour Master from the Marina after a crew member had to leave unexpectedly after racing on Wednesday. Coming ashore this afternoon, he was buzzing, “What a great day!” Even in gentle conditions, the Laser SB3 had clearly impressed. Gary Barker and his crew on Trio performed well in races 1 and 2: “We were really pleased with what we achieved today, perhaps not in everyone’s eyes, but for us, we did really well!”

Peter Saxton was congratulated by the fleet this evening for taking the decision to not sail the fourth scheduled race today. The sea breeze dropped to nothing and the fleet were sent home. At the end of racing, the World Champion, Jerry Hill is repeating his form from Italy earlier this summer and leads the fleet at the halfway stage of the regatta. Andy Oddie, In Your Pocket lies second, his best result so far in the fleet while David Hudson and the crew of Spirt of Cape Town lie in third.

This evening, the free beer is flowing again, prior to the class AGM. A BBQ and charity auction in aid of Sail 4 Cancer which has been supported by our Gold Tier Sponsor Neilson Active Holidays.

Full results here