Junior Race Week - report
Published 01:00 on 22 Aug 2023
Day 1
A great start to Junior Race Week with 31 entries afloat for the first days racing.
The first race started with a SW F2 to 3, but backed more southerly part way through, skewing the beat a little, but still saw some close racing within each fleet.
A quick course reset by the team enabled race 2 to get under way with only a short delay.
The wind held direction for race 2, the reset course offered up another closely raced course; with the Open fleet 1st to 5th finishing within 30 seconds, with the 1st to 5th of Terra fleet finishing within a minute.
Race 3 was underway only a few minutes when the wind shifted from SSW round to WNW, enabling most of the fleet to reach the windward mark on one tack. With no time available to reset, the race turned into a point to point speed test rather than tactical challenge; with Ollie in the Open, Tiggy and Kate the Feva XL, Noah the Tera and Felix the Oppi, declared the 'point to point champs'.
Day 1 ended with the leaders as; Ollie in the Open, Tiggy and Kate with the RS Feva, Noah the RS Tera and Felix the Oppi, but saw close racing through out the fleets.
Day 2 came again with a bright sunny day and a stable F3 sea breeze settled on 190.
With race 4 away, the front of the Open fleet with Ollie in the full Laser rig closely followed by Jonny the Radial rig, it could have gone either way and was down to wire at the finish with just 5 seconds in it. The theme was repeated through out the fleets with Feva leaders separated by 15 seconds, the Tera leaders by 15 seconds, the Oppi by 15 seconds. Things were very close at the front of the fleet!
Race 5 got away, a few shouts of 'starboard' down at the pin end as someone tried to sneak in on port tack by the pin, only to be caught napping.
As the fleet made their way up the beat they were met by some increased breeze coming down the course, puffing into F4 at times, which offered some swimming for a few competitors, some opting for a double bath! The extra breeze upset the Open fleet order and saw the Laser 4.7 of Lucy sneak in a 12 second win over 2nd paced Jonny, whilst the extra breeze provided boat damage for Ollie and be dropped down the order. In the Feva fleet race 1 leaders Tiggy and Kate dropped down the order, with Wilbur and Matthew delivering in the breeze to put in a 1st. In the Feva fleet, Rollo managed the breeze well delivering a first, closely followed by Noah. In the Oppi fleet, Flynn managed to break away with over a minutes lead back to Felix in 2nd.
For the start of race 6 saw an interesting start approach from Ollie, only to be found OCS when there was no room, which dropped him down the order from the off, from which he could not recover sufficient time to gain the lead. The fresh breeze saw a steady performance from Jonny, established from the start line through to the finish, chased all the way by Conor, who was beaten on handicap by Lucy, finishing a short time after with a smaller rig. The Feva fleet saw a new winner in team 'Le Quesne' who led Tiggy and Kate by 30 seconds at the finish. The Tera fleet saw the return of Noah to the front of the fleet, repeating yesterdays three wins. With the Oppi fleet, with the closest win of the event, Flynn led Felix home by just 2 seconds.
Today was a great day afloat, fantastic breeze, close racing and fun by all. Now with just day 1 to go, only 1 point separates the event leaders in the Open and Oppi fleets, whilst Tiggy and Kate in the Feva and Noah in the Terra, with comfortable leads.
Day 3
An overnight correction to discards in line with SI's has shuffled the Open fleet leader, Jonny now leads Ollie by 2 points, Lucy a further point behind. Tiggy & Kate with a stretched lead in Feva, as Noah in Tera, the Oppi still close with Flynn a point ahead. Forecast for today is a light with southerly F3, 7 to 9 knots.
Race 7 course set and underway, Triangle - sausage, port hand in Little Deep. All away on publicised start time, except one Feva late to come to the starting area, but following up the fleet. All went well for the Open fleet, until the wing mark decided to drift down wind, held by a patrol boat in position until all had passed then relaid.
The race ended with the top4 Open fleet within 11 seconds keeping things tight. In the Feva fleet Wilbur and Matthew delivered a commanding lead over the regular leaders Tiggy and Kate. Noah delivered a comfortable win in the Tera fleet, as did Felix with the Oppi's.
Race 8, with wind holding direction but starting to fall off, Ollie made the best of it and gained a good lead up the first beat. By the wing mark the leading Terra had overhauled the tail end Feva, as had the Tera sport by the bottom mark.
Come the finish Connor with his Radial pulled out a 30 second lead on Lucy in the 4.7, dropping Ollie to 3rd. In the Feva fleet Wilbur and Matthew again held off a strong challenge by Tiggy and Kate by just 9 seconds. In the Tera fleet, after a 2nd in race 7 Laura managed to go one better to 1st by a narrow margin. In the Oppi fleet, Felix pulled another 1st.
The final race was upon us in no time, with a dying breeze, underway with a clear line. Ollie leading again, but kept honest by the chasing Laser 200 of Isabella and Valentina, it looked like a win going their way, but pushed to 2nd my just 9 seconds, it still their best result of the series. With Wilbur and Matthew continuing their run of 1st in the Feva, a clean sweep for the day. In the Tera fleet Tommy had the legs on the fleet, leaving Emma to trail in his wake for most of the race. The final race for the Oppi went to our visitor from CYC, Flynn, who had a good showing with 4 1sts, as did Felix.
From Escort Afloat, it was a fantastic 3 day event, great competitive racing, sense of fair play and politeness has been fantastic. I can't remember the number of "thank you's" I heard wafting across the water following finishing toots; also two ladies crews
crossing the line on the upwind leg, we're heard to say 'you tack, oh no after you!', you don't hear that on regular club racing.
To the teams afloat and ashore, thank you; to those supporting for the first time afloat on Escort, you did great.
To you the competitors, as race officer, thank you all for making it such a joy to run.
Full results posted on the web site with photo's on Smugmug.
Photo credit: Zara Jeffery