11/07/2015 |
Only a week after the Nationals, the P&B sponsored Southern Paddle Series resumed with the open meeting at Stewartby Water on Saturday 11th July. The turnout was low – just 6 boats - but the racing was really good and well worth travelling for. The forecast had shown a Force 4 westerly all day but in reality the conditions were a lot more complicated with big variations in wind speed and strength. In race 1 Ian Parish proved to be very fast down wind and took the lead while Veronica Falat and Ian Bradley were engrossed in their own private battle with a lot of close tacking on the beats and luffing on the reaches. On the last time down to the leeward mark Veronica luffed Ian Bradley a long way above the lay line but Ian was too clever and still got the inside mark rounding and took second place behind Ian Parish with Veronica third. Veronica got into the lead early in race 2 and this time it was a battle between the two Ians for second place. When they came ashore they were debating the rights and wrongs of an incident approaching the windward mark and this eventually went to protest. After lunch, race 3 started with a huge port lift. Bill Strange shot into the lead, close-reaching to the windward mark – only to capsize just after rounding. It was then an extremely close race between Veronica and the two Ians, with Ian Parish proving that the first race was no fluke and taking the win. Ian Bradley rounded the last mark just ahead of Veronica but then tacked too close to her and had to do penalty turns and so lost second place. Ian Bradley decided to skip the final race and this time Ryan Langston, sailing a borrowed boat, joined in the fight for the lead. At the penultimate mark Veronica was in the lead and looking like she would win the meeting but on the run she lost out badly. Ian Parish rounded the leeward mark first with Ryan and Veronica right behind. Veronica tacked off – which was wrong! Ryan played the shifts on the short final beat perfectly and crossed the line just inches ahead of Ian Parish. After racing the protest between the two Ians was heard and was judged in Ian Parish’s favour. He was the clear winner of the event counting 2 firsts and a second; even if he had lost the protest he would still have won. Thank you to Stewartby Water SC for a day of challenging racing. We shared the event with Solos and Lasers and I hope they agree with us that we all got along jolly well. |
1st 1886 Ian Parish Stewartby Water SC 2nd 1829 Veronica Falat Waveney & Oulton Broad YC 3rd 1664 Ryan Langston Beccles Amateur SC 4th 1817 Ian Bradley Ouse Amateur SC 5th 1791 Bill Strange Stewarty Water SC 6th 1789 Mark Langston Beccles Amateur SC |
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