Pursuit Series 2008 blog

Race 1 - No blog

Race 2 - No blog

Race 3 - Sometimes it seems that pursuit races do not seem all that popular with the club, or rather many were on holiday or just happy taking in the sun on this beautiful day. Only two boats entered the race: Phil in the club Enterprise, crewed by Sarah in her first competitive sail; and Jason helming a two handed boat for the first time in a race in the club Wayfarer and crewed by Steve,  an experienced and competitive sailor but hadn't been in a dinghy for more than six years. The race started under good conditions, but as usual Jason failed to gain, as he spent four of his six minute lead trying to workout how the boat worked and in finding the starting line, so not making the most of the fast fading breeze. The match developed into another classic Staines hunt the wind race, as the two dinghies’ manoeuvred across the Thames in order to catch any passing breeze. As the gap between the two boats lengthened and narrowed Jason was able to keep his lead, until the last lap, when Jason taking to the more consistent but fading Middlesex station, Phil risked the Surrey bank and found himself in his own personal micro-climate that transported him and Sarah smoothly, if slowly, into an unassailable lead and thus taking the race.

Race 4 - In two weeks where the conditions at Staines went to Qingdao, the Olympics came to Staines, with excellent winds, well attended races, close matches and dramatic collisions. Today conditions at Staines returned to normal.  The light and fickle winds, strong stream and plenty of traffic, meant that only the cream of Britain's sailing world would finish, meanwhile the rest of the world would be cruising and celebrating in Beijing.  The fourth race in the Pursuit series started in the usual way, with Jason trying to remember how a dinghy worked, he had chosen a Topper and hoped to use the Portsmouth Yardstick to his advantage. Six minutes after Jason started, Phil and Sarah set-off in an Enterprise and Alan making a return to racing in his British Moth, two minutes later Kevin and Mick went in an Enterprise. The first upstream mark was made, but as the fleet made the run upstream the wind decided to play its own game. Chasing an increasingly fragile wind, Jason found himself in the birds nest, not in China, but nested with the birds in the trees, first on Surrey side, allowing the rest of the fleet to overhaul him, then on Middlesex side allowing the fleet to lap him. The race was now on with three boats, Kevin taking the lead with Phil and Alan keeping pace with each other. Jason, already lapped, briefly joined in the running in the painfully slow second lap, but again landed in the birds nest soup of the Middlesex silviculture, eventually he retired from the race being towed behind the rescue boat.  In the third and final lap Phil and Sarah put in a fantastic time to reduce Kevin and Mick's win to under a minute, but this was not enough for them to keep second place, which went to Alan by virtue of British Moth's PY rating and OD, Richard Hancock, superb mathematic skills.

Race 5 - Yet to be sailed

Race 6 - Yet to be sailed