On the long haul out to the race course a long swell and strong flood gave the sense that maybe, just maybe, there would be enough wind.. as soon as everyone arrived at the start line it was evident it was going to be a case of wait and see.
After an hour or so a small waft of breeze settled in long enough for the RC to believe it could hold and they quickly got the sequences rolling. All clear on the fifteens followed 3 minutes later by the PY's.
Neil O'Toole, going for the Saturday Series 3 win, got it a little wrong in time on distance on port at the favoured port end and was immediately forced into a downspeed tack and off to the left. Paul Keane was trying the left side too.
At the top mark the Ryans in an RS400 and the Mermaids who had all sailed right led the mixed PY fleet ahead of Keane, McNabb, O'Toole and Nesbitt in their Lasers. Keeping the sail full in the fickle breeze with tide pushing the boats towards the leeward mark was not easy.
At the bottom mark the order was almost the same though Keane did get a jump on the Mermaids which were now between him and the chasing Laser pack. While Keane and McNabb played safe and headed right O'Toole decided enough was enough and headed left while furiously scratching at a recent national lottery purchase.
Left, which seemed to have more pressure, didn't come up trumps as there was a wind hole between it and the cleverly shortened course finish at the second top mark. Keane just made it there safely, almost coming a cropper on the line in an extremely exuberant roll tack, followed by McNabb and O'Toole in a match race to the line. They've been watching too much TV.
In the overalls O'Toole did enough to win series 3, congratulations Neil, we'll see you at the prizegiving in November.
Next get together for the fleet is the High Performance Debate in tne NYC, Fri 4th Oct @ 7.30pm followed by the Sail/Cycle challenge on 5th and and 6th Oct. Don't worry if you don't have a snazzy bike or a Laser. Let's see you taking part.
Thanks everyone for a great season.
Cheers
David, Hugh and Paul
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