As visitors
to Whitby basked in glorious sunshine ashore, 7 boats ventured out to sea to
compete in the RNLI trophy in their support for the Lifeboat weekend. They were
greeted by a fresh easterly wind which was bringing in fog banks spasmodically.
On occasions, visibility was quite poor making it impossible to start the race
so the boats waited in hope of clearer visibility. After 20 minutes, a clear
patch materialised and the Race Officer got the boats away.
A close
tussle occurred at the first turning mark off the pier ends before the boats
turned downwind to head for Sandsend. Those that could, sported spinnakers, but
the colourful sight wouldn’t be appreciated from the shore as the boats
disappeared in to the fog again. Helmsmen got their heads down on to their
instruments in order to find the small buoy off Sandsend, over a mile away.
Icon led the fleet with the bigger Déjà Vu snapping at her heels. Samaki was
having a close tussle with Skywalker and Monsoon had some space to herself. No
Compromise was getting down to gaining her usual position at the head of the
fleet after completing penalty turns and Serenade of Parkstone brought up the
rear.
With the
benefit of GPS, the fleet found the buoy, dropped their spinnakers and headed
for the inshore Sandsend buoy before turning in to the wind to get back to the
start/finish line. Most boats headed out to sea to take advantage of the
flooding tide. Instruments were resorted to again as the beach disappeared in
to the fog. Déjà Vu overtook Icon and No Compromise was only slowly clawing
back her lost ground. Samaki broke Skywalker’s hold on her and Monsoon enjoyed
the fresh beat. The Race Officer decided the game of hide and seek in the fog
had to come to an end and finished the race at the end of the first lap with
Déjà Vu leading the boats in, but the handicap would re-arrange the order.
Result: 1st Icon, Neil &
Lorraine Williamson, 2nd Skywalker, Pete Brown, 3rd
Samaki, Nigel Robinson
With
torrential rain drumming down throughout Sunday morning, prospects for racing
and the Blessing of the Boats looked decidedly dismal and only three boats were
bold enough to face it. By the time they passed through the bridge, the rain
had stopped and a fresh westerly provided good sailing conditions. The boats
were committed to a short race in order to return for the Blessing and Icon led
the fleet away with Samaki and Double D following. The order remained the same
throughout and the positions were unchanged by application of the handicap.
Result: Class A, 1st Icon,
Class B 1st Samaki, 2nd Double D, Dave Broughton
