Race Report Saturday June 7th
 
The fleet looked a little thinner than normal today probably due to the dire forecast on Thursday and the Round the Island Race being another draw for crews, this  left everyone hoping for a race somewhere somehow. The plan for going outside was sensibly quashed with no temptation,  with inside racing the only option due to the impending water falling from the sky and the potentially random wind that could bring. As it happened the wind was relatively stable in direction, only once gusted over 25kts and a course with long beats and some reaches and running to get back down.
 
The start was a clean affair with Chris and Nadia showing good time and distance to be the ones closest to the line at the gun. The fleet split into a 9 left and 3 right formation with the three going right deciding one by one to join the left before clearing Brownsea.  Sadly Chris and Nadia had an issue and had to retire. Tabby and Chewy who hadn’t sailed this year didn’t take much time to show that they like to lead from the front and as the leading 3-4 boats crossed a number of times they looked to be in control.  As we neared the Wytch mark we decided to keep some separation on the 2 leaders and found a lucky shift on the right that brought us into the mark in the lead. Tabby was right on our tail as we both hoisted and then the fun conditions meant some quick reaching. We initially pulled a gap but stuck between defending our wind and going to the mark we made some bad decisions and were rolled about 50m from Morris lane, however Graham and Ben using what looked like a magic star from Mario Kart sped inside us both to lead.
 
We all took the next reach in line and then at the next boy TEV Handles it was a lower affair to get to the final mark – Parkstone Dental. The leading positions didn’t change but the chasing pack in the 4-6 positions had some good wind to close up and make the fight all to play for. On the second lap the beat meant a decision on where to go, left was paying but would the wind go right. We decided to shadow loosely Ben and Graham middle left but the harder left boats came out on top. The biggest winner was Patrick and William who from what seemed like 50m back appeared inside all of us to lead the next time round Wytch.
 
By this time Phil and Martin had sailed overtaken us so were in fifth but managed to keep speed while going low on the reach to come up to 4th. The positions in front looked like they were going to stay in line but Tabby and Chewy had different ideas and managed to get to the front with their always fast reaching ability. From there they led around the leeward mark with not many options for the final short beat to what turned out to be the finish. This meant they claimed what was a very deserved victory. Patrick and William claimed what was also a very solid second with Graham and Ben in third. Behind us the  places were changing regularly and I think everyone enjoyed the race. Graham came to us afterwards and asked if we could write the report as he felt he’s been consistently in 3rd and he likes to share the load.
 
Surprisingly lovely sail even though it was very wet wet wet. The Race Officer - Richard Edwards did an amazing job and hopefully we can all enjoy next week with maybe a little less moisture. 
 
1^st      4052  Dave and Chewey
2^nd     3821 Patrick and William
3^rd     4020 Graham and Ben
4^th     4088 Geof and Nick (author of the report)
5^th     4058 Phil and martin?
6^th     4125 David and Anne-Laure
7^th     4027 Mike and Howard
8^th     3966 Richard and Alan
9^th     3901 Peter and Rob
10^th   3643 Luke and Sam
RTD   3758 Graham and Sara
RTD   4025 Chris and Nadia