23/04/2016 |
6 visitors joined 5 local boats in the Burghfield Streaker open on Saturday 23rd April. A very chilly northerly wind provided interesting conditions as the wind direction changed every few minutes. However, the race officer and his team did an excellent job in setting good courses. In Race 1 Alex Butler from Hayling Island led round the first couple of marks, looking slightly worried as it was rather tricky identifying the correct marks to aim for. It was basically a figure of eight course with two beats per lap - and the second beat was made particularly interesting by having an island half way up it! It was Brenda Hoult, also from Hayling, who played that beat to advantage and, once clear of the fleet, pulled ahead and led to the finish. Howard Freer was 2nd, well clear of Veronica Falat who was in turn just ahead of Alex Butler. Race 2 saw Brenda doing turns on the first reach after a slight coming-together with Alex. However she was soon back in contention and eventually finished 2nd behind Howard, with Alex 3rd. After lunch Brenda gained her second win of the day. Alex was 2nd just ahead of Veronica. Only the first 3 races counted towards the P&B Southern Paddle series, so 4 boats decided to give the final race a miss but for the leaders the open meeting result was still to be resolved. As the fleet rounded the first mark Brenda was unfortunate to capsize and eventually retired. She must have thought her overall lead had evaporated as Howard built a good lead - but on the final lap he too capsized in a big gust while bearing away on to the run! He recovered but by this time Alex had the lead which he kept to the finish and Howard came in 4th behind Veronica and Chris Abela. This meant that Brenda was the overall winner, with Alex just pipping Howard for the runner-up spot. A big thank you to Burghfield SC for some good racing - and the free tea afterwards! |
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