Author: Keith Sykes

The fine weather and slightly lighter breeze than the previous week brought out a fantastic turnout at Rollebsy Broad on Sunday 18^thwith 38 sailors taking to the water at some point during the morning.

In the multisails; Chris Sallis & Matthew Frary won both raceson the water in their Tasar; but they couldn’t pull out enough of a lead overthe pack of five Wayfarers, Dave Houghton & John Symonds wrapping up the Autumnseries with a week to go by winning both races on handicap. Bob Sparrow &Steve completed the podium places with a third and a second place.

The short first beat meant the eighteen boat single-hander fleet remained more mixed up on handicap. Mike McNamara (Harrier) and David Frary (Finn) managed to break clear of the pack in race 1. Steve Leigh in his OK led the mid fleet pack before a navigation error brought him back into the clutches of Tamsin Highfield’s Streaker and John Saddington & Ian Ayres Solos. After pulling well clear on lap 2 a further course reading error by Ayres cost him the race, giving Saddington third; Steve Whitby hung on to the back of the pack in his MiniSail to take fourth.

It looked like the same service at the first mark in race two; but some smart downwind sailing by Phil Highfield (Streaker) and Gareth Thomas (Phantom) meant these two had the lead after a lap, with Ayres in closest pursuit. McNamara did eventually get clear on the water but could only count 4^th on handicap with Highfield well clear of the rest and Whitby again in close enough proximity, this time for second.

The weather was even nice enough to entice eight boats back out after lunch!

Multisails

Race 1 (7 entries)
1. Dave Houghton & John Symonds (Wayfarer)
2. Chris Sallis & Matt Frary (Tasar)
3. Bob Sparrow & Steve (Wayfarer)

Race 2 (8)
1. Dave Houghton & John Symonds (Wayfarer)
2. Bob Sparrow & Steve (Wayfarer)
3. Chris Sallis & Matt Frary (Tasar)

SingleHanders

Race 1 (18 entries)
1. Mike McNamara (Harrier)
2. David Frary (Finn)
3. John Saddington (Solo)
4. Steve Whitby (MiniSail)

Race 2 (17)
1. Phil Highfield (Streaker)
2. Steve Whitby (MiniSail)
3. Ian Ayres (Solo)
4. Mike McNamara (Harrier)

Mixed PM Race 3 (8)
1. Ian Ayres (Solo)
2. Mike McNamara (Harrier)
3. John Saddington (Solo)

Who has the fastest survival mode, was the order of the day at Rollesby Broad this Sunday; following a delayed start to observe two minutes silence at 11 am.

The singlehanders made up the majority of the sailors on the water, with Chris Toothill rightly leading the fleet round the course in his Phantom in both races. However an ability to stay upright was more important than outright speed and Ian Ayres led (all be it by a long way) a trio of Solos to handicap victory with Phil Alison and John Saddington having survived the rather scary long run second and third.

A zig-zag downwind with several gybes proved a more stable course in race two, favouring the Lasers of Keith Sykes, who worked really hard in the later stages to catch Stuart Highfield, as they enjoyed some great planing reaches; neither however could quite get far enough ahead of Ayres as he won by a handful of seconds.

In race one for the multisails, Dave Houghton & John Symonds put their Wayfarer into hyper-drive by flying their spinnaker and left the opposition lagging far behind. The only other finishers were Daniel Harvey & Andy Smith with a somewhat more cautious but very seaman like performance. When Houghton & Symonds performed their ‘once a year’ capsize before the start of race two the rest of the fleet elected to stay ashore, only to watch them very nearly repeat the feat on lap two!

Multisails
Race 1 (5 entries)
1 Dave Houghton & John Symonds (Wayfarer)
2. Daniel Harvey & Andy Smith (Wayfarer)

Race 2 (2)
1 Dave Houghton & John Symonds (Wayfarer)

Single Handers
Race 1 (11 entries)
1. Ian Ayres (Solo)
2. Phil Alison (Solo)
3. John Saddington (Solo)

Race 2 (8)
1. Ian Ayres (Solo)
2. Keith Sykes (Laser)
3. Stuart Highfield (Laser)