Dell Quay Sailing Club

The second series of Short Races saw five races held in South Easterly winds of 5-7 knots. The races were run from a committee boat and a triangular course laid in light but steady winds. A good turnout saw a variety of dinghies and a wide range of sailor's ages, with the youngest Ella Jones being only 7 years old.

Each race lasted around 15 minutes and the first three were only one lap of the course. The race officer increased this to two laps as the breeze picked up for the two final races. A start line, which allowed some to benefit from a port end start and slight wind shifts, resulted in a challenging beat to the windward mark.

The Finn of Andrew Buchanan lead in most of the races with Andrew taking first place on the water in four of the races. The other front positions were well contested by the Solos of Richard Ede, Mike Shaw and Carol Andrews and the Laser Radial of Phoebe Noble.

In the first race Ella Jones, in her Optimist, finished the course to spontaneous applause from fellow competitors and secured 8th place on handicap. This was also the first race for David Uffingden who was delighted to complete the course in his Solo.

The winner of this round of the competition on handicap was Ede, with Buchanan second and Noble third. The overall result of the ten races gave Noble first, followed by Chris West second and Ede third.

Report by Rob Corfield