Fireball blazes to victory in second event
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A BRIEF respite between the heavy winds of the previous week and the strong weather to come opened up an opportunity for the Pentland Firth Yacht Club to hold its second racing event of the series recently. Thurso Bay sparkled blue and inviting, although the shock of the cold water took some of the edge off this.
Racing sailors shared the clubhouse with a power boat course the club was running over the weekend. The turnout was still low for the early season series with Guy and Barbara Newson sailing their two person Fireball dinghy and Ian Grant in a club Topper joining Dave and Marjory Lord in their 4.7 Lasers. The Newsons were hoping for a reasonable sized course for their Fireball as it is a fast and complex high performance boat and needs some decent room to sail to its handicap, and were not disappointed.
The largely offshore breeze made for quite flat water but the strong gusts were hard to handle and caused big wind shifts. with the myriad of floating creel lines created another series of hazards. The Fireball soon planed ahead of the fleet but needed to build a very sizeable lead to beat the Laser sailors on handicap. Sailing a loop/triangular course, the fleet regularly crossed each other, sailing at some speed, and using the rules of racing to take tactical advantage and avoid collisions.
Grant, still a relative novice, managed a good turn of speed in the relatively slower Topper. The two Lasers creamed around the course planing on all the downwind legs. The Fireball revels in testing conditions like this and on the reaches, with the spinnaker set tight and Guy flat out on the wire, the Fireball rocketed around the course. After the first race, with no capsizes, the finishing order was the Newsons, Marjory Lord, Dave Lord and Grant, which was unchanged by the handicap correction.
Just prior to completion of the first race, a massive squall and hailstones hit the fleet with gust up to 30 knots and the committee/rescue boat crew decided to abandon racing for the day.
It was a sensible option as Guy and Barbara capsized on the return to the beach — a rare event for them — and it took four attempts to right the boat.
Last Thursday, just two boats braved the very cool temperatures with the honours evenly split with one win each for Chris Hill and Barbara/Guy Newson.
Conditions were much more favourable on Sunday and six boats competed in ideal sailing conditions. With five Lasers competing, there was some close racing. The top four places varied across the races with no sailor gaining the same placing in all the races.
Dave Lord won the first with Barbara and Guy Newson winning the next two. The updated series results are: 1 Barbara/Guy Newson 9 points. 2 equal Dave and Marjory Lord 11. Racing now takes a break to allow the beginners sailing course to be held. The series concludes on 19 May, with the final three races.
