After three cold days of high winds, cloud and rain the weather forecast for Sunday April 30th looked good, other than the wind strength increasing to 19 knots by about 3pm, so the second race day of the SAMM Spring Series was on.
12 competitors in eight boats arrived at the beachfront of CTD Los Narejos at 10am to glorious sunshine and a nice 4-5 knot breeze but at 11.30am the wind suddenly increased to 15 knots which is the maximum it is considered comfortable to sail in for what is supposed to be fun club racing. As the start time approached it had increased to 17 knots and Don Clarke, single handed in his two person Hartley 12.2, decided not to compete.
All other seven boats got away safely for the scheduled 4 lap race although there was some confusion over the start time and two boats went early. By the end of lap 2 the wind was gusting at about 20 knots so the race officer had to decide whether to abandon the race on safety grounds or continue. He decided that, as all boats had been trying so hard in the conditions, he would shorten the race to 3 laps.
Two boats retired, one because they got lost and the other because they missed a mark, but the other six all finished safely and there were no capsizes, a tribute to the skill of all the competitors.
When the results were calculated on handicap it was found that between 21 and 42 seconds separated each place, a superb achievement in the conditions. The winners were Tug Wilson and Vernon O’Byrne in their Laser 2000.
Many thanks went to the crew of the support boat who, despite getting very wet, did a sterling job monitoring the competitors to ensure every ones safety.
With no lessening of the wind strength it was agreed by all to abandon further racing for the day.
