No Oscars to be had in Maylandsea Bay

Grey skies still hung over Maylandsea as the fleet gathered to contest races 5 and 6. The tide was rushing in and the wind setting from the North West at 8 to 12 knots putting all competitors in with a chance of a good result. Keith Fedi, Finn sailor making his first appearance in the series (and a welcome sight) is never out of the race and Martin Scarth and Tony King, returning having missed a race day, worked at building up the pre-launch tempo. In the club house the armchair champs were putting an edge on the preceding as the new chef de-lovely was encouraging the assembled to get stuck in to eating more breakfast.
The race box for the first time this year was Bill-less and the fleet, with no expense spared, was reacquainted with the set course card. For the spinnaker boat crew, who had fallen under the delights of ‘grape juice’ or even sadder, Lager a relaxing day was not to be. For the single-handed sailors the sight of short legs and many jibes evens the odds of a good result.
As the starting flag fell the fleet was split port and starboard and some joyful calls were heard ending in cries of fear as the port tackers shook under the starboard boats rounding race mark 1. Turns followed and peace returned only to find Martin and Tony turning their spinnaker into what you might think was a macramé Chrimbo party hat resulting in the pairing travelling to the wrong mark, all in front of the club gallery who were surprisingly polite. Jacko and Lorna Merlin, now lead boat, put together an impressive collection of sailboat team work (and sailing the right course), the spinnaker retaining good pressure through the reach-to-reach jibes and Lorna’s lips hardly moving.

The fleet sailed down to Mundon spit and across to Steeple creek to start the zigzag course up wind with more reaches thrown in for added pleasure for the Lasers. It was noted that Jacko’s wind ward speed was well under the required Merlin pace and allowed Martin to overhaul and make up enough time to win the race by 30 seconds and deservedly so, as Tony’s spinnaker handling gave them an edge on the average Fireball sailor on what was not a boner Fireball day.
For race two the wind backed and the course was set to the West but the wind became unsteadier and good race skills were needed. Again Jacko and Lorna lost the lead to Martin and Tony having made a good start, with good boat handling skills and Lorna’s spinnaker work setting the pace only to lose out on the windward legs has put a big question mark on Jacko’s eligibility as a suitable helm for such a talented crew. Jacko’s comment was “it’s never over till it’s over” and with four races to come he may be right!

There has been some tough racing between the Lark sailors and again it’s not over yet with just three points being the difference and the error factor being critical.
Keith had a tough day loosing the main sheet and taking to the water, but ever the battler sorted and recovered to finish the day with a 6th and a 3rd.
With four races to go the questions are. Can Jacko find more windward boat speed? Will the winds be kind to the Fireball fleet? Will race mark 6 stay afloat long enough to be rounded again? Will Batty ever fly his spinnaker? Can Peter ‘Laser’ close down Martin’s 6 point lead? Will Dave and Gary’s nerve hold good or will Rorie and Charlotte hit the go faster button to take the leading Lark Prize? Is winter frost over? With the next race being a 13:30 start will the softies come out to sail?

All will be revealed on the next race day March 1st 13:30 start with Billy in the race box
Full results and more info at www.maylandseabay-sc.org.uk/
Thanks to Nigel Whiting and Peter Freshwater for sending the photos
Overall:

1st Fireball Martin Scarth & Tony King 4 points
2nd Merlin Rocket Alan Jackson & Lorna Laval 6 points
3rd Laser Martin Tarling 9 points
4th Laser Peter Playle 15 points
5th Laser Clive Tarling 18 points