SAMM Sailing Association Mar Menor July 2022

Another Good Day of SAMM Racing

The second race day on May 15^th saw a good turnout of 11 competitors sailing 6 boats. Average Lap racing round an Americas Cup style course, there were two buoys for the start gate with another gate at the far end. Boats had to pass through the gates, but could choose to go round to port or starboard to find the best wind and course to sail.

Race 1. Wind E, 3.3 knots.

It was a good start except both Balaton boats (Sirocco and Ginetta) were about 4 minutes away from line at the gun. There were a few different tactics employed, but Tug Wilson (Laser Radial) chose the best and varied his course to suit the wind. On lap 2 the wind dropped down to 0-1 knots which slowed the fleet, but it later picked back up to 3 knots. One boat however tried to take one of the buoys with them after finishing; a common occurrence.

Results:

1^st Laser Radial (Tug Wilson)

2^nd Shoestring Dos (Brian Murray/Diane Hardwick)

3^rd Shoestring Cuatro (Vernon O’Byrne/Mark Williams)

Race 2. Wind E, 3.5 knots on same course but shortened.

Again it was a good start with the Balaton boats only 2 minutes behind. Sirocco had the SAMM Commodore join as crew for this race. The wind increased to 6.5 knots average which gave the fleet a boost and led to quite a few battles on the water. The wind also veered to ESE making the laps quicker as the boats were on more of a reach, the fastest point of sailing.

Results:

1^st Laser Radial (Tug Wilson)

2^nd Ginetta (Robert Hudson/Dawn Morgan)

3^rd Shoestring Uno (John Down/S Hall)

The third SAMM Race Day dawned bright and fair but with light winds. For a change the Race Officer set a square course to give the main points of sailing a beat, a reach, a run and a reach back to the start line, sailed clockwise so starboard around the marks

Race 1. Wind 2-3 knots NE.

The start was planned for 11am, but due to setting up problems, the two Balaton boats on swing moorings couldn’t make it in time so it was delayed until 11.15am. It was a slow start by some and as usual the faster dinghies got away and left the Balaton Sailfish behind. After a couple of laps the dinghies were lapping the Sailfish, especially when the wind picked up a bit. There were some tussles with close racing and good battles especially between the Laser and Omega and, although most of the fleet were separating, similar boats also had a bit of a ding dong and plenty of overtaking. The wind gradually built to 4-5 knots and all had a good race with a very tight result of only 4 seconds between first and second placed boats.

Results

1^st Shoestring Uno (Mark Williams/Bob Lagden)

2^nd Shoestring Dos (Brian Murray/Diane Hardwick)

3^rd Shoestring Omega (Kerry Marlow/Tug Wilson)

Race 2. Wind 3.5 knots E.

A fantastic start from the off with all boats clearing the line within 48 seconds, the best we’ve seen for ages. They all looked very professional! Again there was some very close racing between similar boats. The two Sailfish were neck and neck for a time and there was a very close battle between Shoestring Dos and Omega and the two Shoestring Gambas (Uno and Cuatro) were also close. Boats were continually changing tactics, all trying to get up the inside of each other approaching the start/finishing line to get ahead and steal the wind on the downwind leg and improve their places on each lap. It was good fair racing with very few seconds between boats, especially the first four, once the results were calculated.

Results

1^st Shoestring Dos (Brian Murray/Diane Hardwick)

2^nd Shoestring Cuatro (Vernon O’Byrne/Steve Hall)

3^rd Shoestring Uno (Mark Williams/Bob Lagden)

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