Another great turnout of 17 competitors sailing 10 boats for the SAMM races on May 19th.
There was a dead calm when everybody arrived but, as forecast, the wind picked up to 4.5 to 5 knots at the start then built quickly to 6 to 8 knots where it remained for the whole 75 minute (4500 seconds) race.
Everybody made a good start and the fastest boat in the fleet, Topaz Duo, soon pulled ahead hotly pursued by two groups, the Laser Radial, Laser 1, Omega and Laser 2000 then a few minutes later the two Sailfish 18’s and the two Gamba’s with the diminutive Sea Hopper bringing up the rear.
These two groups had some exciting and tight racing amongst themselves, with boats constantly changing position, as the individual crews tried different tacks to gain the advantage, and lapping within seconds of the rest of the group
This order continued for a few laps but eventually a couple of mishaps soon had the fleet spread out all around the course. The about to finish signal was sounded at 4230 seconds and the boats finished in between 4252 and 4619 seconds.
The corrected times gave the honours to the Sailfish ‘Mistral’ (Julian Pering and Steve Rocks) with the other Sailfish ‘Ginetta’ (Ian Sinclair and Peter Beck) second just 3 seconds behind. A brilliant performance by the two largest boats in the fleet.
By the time the 5 minute warning signal was sounded for the second race the wind had increased to 12 gusting 15 knots the maximum for safe sailing for SAMM members, most of who are between 60 and 75 years old. Within four minutes it had increase further to 15 gusting 18 so the Race officer was forced to cancel.
For more info about SAMM and its race program go to www.sailingmarmenor.com
