An early start – 6.00am – for what turned out to be a 3.1/2 hour journey up to Saddle Bow, just south of Kings Lynn. Bright and sunny all the way but next to no breeze as we arrived. The starts were delayed until about 11.30 by which time a bit of a breeze, almost straight up the cut, had filled in and the third Supernova had arrived on site. This was to be a joint Open meeting and seven Streakers were present with the last one arriving just in the nick of time. Apparently with the occasional opening of the adjacent sluice havoc had been caused with the usual arrangement of marks and course(s) were limited to the use of four of the normal 9 (or 10). During the day the breeze varied considerably in both strength and direction.
At the start of Race one it was Robin Jones (Hykeham) who was first off the mark across the line with Ian Bradley (Ouse ASC) at the back of the fleet although closer to the windward bank. Ian.B very soon got to the front and led by the end of the first lap with Paul Jago (Hykeham) up into 3rd place. Mark Langston (Beccles) was in 4th, Alan Simmons (Lancing ) 5th , Gary Hogan (Haversham) 6th and Hugh Ambery (Blakeney) in 7th. Lap 2 saw only minor place changes with Alan.S switching position with Mark.L. In the final lap the flukey breeze played its part and there were changes galore, except for Ian.B who stayed out in front. Paul.J passed Robin.J to take second place whilst Hugh.A climbed up to 4th. 5th spot went to Gary.H when he passed Alan S right on the finish line and MarkL also dropped back to last.
Race two, after lunch, had very slightly more breeze but it was still very variable in direction and power. Again Ian.B was soon in the lead but this time Hugh.A was on his heels in second spot with Robin.J in third and Paul.J 4th. In the second group Mark.L was lying 5th, Gary.H 6th and Alan.S bringing up the rear. In the second lap Robin.J passed Hugh.A as did Paul.J whilst Gary.H overtook Mark.L and Alan.S stayed put at the back. In the final lap there were no changes and thus IanB took his second win of the day.
Race 3 was sailed back to back and yet once more IanB took the lead with Paul J behind him. Hugh.A was in third spot at the end of the first lap with Mark.L in fourth. Robin.J was in his worst position of the meeting at 5th just ahead of Alan.S in 6th with Gary.H at the tail this time. By the end of the second lap Ian.B was still out in front by some distance, Paul.J was next and then Robin.J. Alan.S had moved up a couple of places to 4th and Mark.L dropped one to 5th. Worst off was Hugh.H who must have found a big patch of weed as he dropped from 3rd to last behind Gary.H. In the third lap Ian.B still led, ahead of Paul.J and on the upwind leg Alan.S briefly went up to third until at the top end gybe mark he capsized allowing Robin.J back in front. He did stay ahead of 5th placed Mark.L, Gary.H in 6th and Hugh.A in 7th.
Results
Helm Club Race 1 Race2 Race3 Points Posn
Ian Bradley Ouse A S C 1 1 (1) 2 1
Paul Jago Hykeham 2 (3) 2 4 2
Robin Jones Hykeham 3 2 (3) 5 3
Hugh Ambery Blakeney 4 4 (7) 8 4
Alan.Simmons Lancing 6 (7) 4 10 5
Gary Hogan Haversham 5 5 (6) 10 6
Mark Langston Beccles (7) 6 5 11 7
Alan.S 1700
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