Chris and Jack win Whitstable Open

Whitstable YC once again hosted the 505 fleet, who were greeted with sunshine and a light breeze on arrival at the beautiful seaside town.  It looked doubtful whether we’d be able to sail.  The OOD took us out to see if we could get at least one race in, but the wind held up and we had a very pleasant and tight day’s racing, in unusually clear water…

The usual 505 enthusiasm at the start prompted quick use of the black flag.  The fleet got away second time in light airs, with Adam/Rich rounding first, but the conditions caused a lot of place changing, and a very closely-packed fleet.  Tom/Geoff came out on top, with Chris/Jack second, and Adam/Rich third.

The wind died a little for the second race, with plenty of snakes and ladders evident depending on who called the shifts and avoided the holes, both up and downwind.  The right hand side paid on second the second lap, and the wind filled in a bit towards the end.  Once again, everyone enjoyed close fleet racing, with Chris/Jack taking the race ahead of Mark/Ian and a resurgent Tudor/Tom.

The wind filled in for the third race.  Mark/Ian pulled a lovely port-end flier to cross the fleet, and went on in full trapezing conditions to take the win, ahead of Tom/Geoff and Chris/Jack, who had just done enough to take the overnight lead, with second and third being decided on count-back, after a very enjoyable afternoon out on the water.

The morning dawned to a strong north-easterly, which had quickly whipped up a choppy sea-state.  The OOD went out to inspect the course, and concluded that, with the ebb starting to flow strongly against the wind, conditions were unsuitable for racing, so the overnight results became final.

With thanks to our race officer Tom Bruton Sr and all the team at Whitstable, for once again making us so welcome.