Pwllheli Sailing Club Winter Series - Day 1
by Vicky Cox 18 Nov 2019 14:10 PST
16-17 November 2019
Pwllheli Sailing Club Winter Series - Day 1 - Mark Rosenthal's Elan 40, Flair IV © Dave James
The winter series got under way at Pwllheli this weekend, consisting of three racing weekends with just one race each day in anticipation of less clement weather. But with flat seas and pleasant conditions race officer Robin Evans set a couple of long races taking in many of the Pwllheli Sailing Club marks.
Saturday's race saw north westerly wind conditions anywhere from wind holes and just 2-3kts to the odd gust of 13kts, while
Sunday's race saw the wind gradually clocking round to north east and 6-14kts with occasional gusts of 17kts.
Mojito wanting to confirm their Pwllheli Challenge series win by taking early points in the winter series, failed to take tide into account at the start and arrived too early.
Their return left rival J109s Jetstream and Jaydreamer to take the lead and they were already at the first mark before Mojito got started.
Meanwhile in class 2, Mark Rosenthal's Elan 40, Flair IV and Will Partington's Hunter, Honey Bee, helmed by Stuart Trunkfield also had to return to the start.
With light airs, kites were held at increasingly tight angles with the J109 fleet enjoying close battles around the course but when Nigel Ingram's Jetstream dunked their kite in the water they dropped back into third place.
Paul Sutton's Jaydreamer struggled with reduced crew numbers, allowing Mojito to use a full crew to their advantage and take the lead, finally finishing first overall.
Jaydreamer took 2nd shortly followed by Jetstream, while in Class 2, Honey Bee made up good ground after their eager start and managed to finish in first place.
Everyone enjoyed the weekend, which included a charity quiz night, raising over £600 for the Pwllheli RNLI, and crews are now looking forward to the next of the winter series weekends on the 30th November.
More details and full results can be found at www.pwllhelisailingclub.co.uk