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'Neilson Redeye' wins at Brighton Marina Regatta
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Over the weekend of May 7-9 Brighton Marina Yacht Club hosted its popular club regatta. With visiting yachts from Eastbourne and Sussex (Shoreham) Yacht Clubs, the fleet was split four ways. IRC1 and 2 (starting together) for the dedicated racers, a Portsmouth yardstick (PY) fleet for the cruiser racers and a dedicated fleet for the Cork 1720s.
The format was for the first race on the Friday evening followed by five races over the weekend with five races to count. With simple windward/leeward and triangle courses. The weather had still not settled into 'summer mode' and this spring regatta had a wintery feel about it with cold northerlies blowing through the weekend making for gusty offshore winds but flat seas. The scene was set for some great racing.
Race one saw some light and shifty conditions and the fleet split for the first leg. The smaller SB3 'Neilson Shark Bite' played the shifts well and sailed a faultless race to finish first with 'Neilson Redeye' (J92S) a minute behind on corrected time and just a few seconds ahead of 'Jeneral Lee' the new J97 in the fleet.
Race two on Saturday saw some more wind and 'Shark Bite' picking up a fishing net from somewhere which put her down the fleet and out of the next race as she retired to the marina to clear it from her keel. 'Jeneral Lee' sailed well to beat 'Redeye' by a few seconds and 'Vision', the SJ320, also made a showing on the podium.
Race three and the results remained the same before the fleet came in for lunch. Fresh fish and chips in the club house and a pint of Harveys best bitter was obviously what the 'Redeye' crew needed as they emerged after lunch to win race four with 'Jeneral Lee' and 'Shark Bite' picking up second and third. This left 'Jeneral Lee' and 'Redeye' tying on points over night with third place still open to the fleet.
Sunday was forecast windy and after a light start the breeze built to over 20 knots making for some interesting broaches on the reaches as the boats struggled to hold their spinnakers. 'Redeye' flying the new Hyde spinnaker, whilst being cut for downwind sailing, performed well on the reaches and took a win from 'Jeneral Lee' with 'Shark Bite' sailing well in the big stuff to secure a third.
A quick check on the results showed that the regatta win was dependent on the final race. 'Neilson Redeye' had a good start but were soon covered by the larger IRC1 fleet and unable to tack across and were forced out to the port layline for the windward mark whilst 'Jeneral Lee' had managed to extricate themselves from the pack and in clear air find themselves mixing it at the front of the fleet. 'Neilson Redeye' had a close call with 'Vision' near the windward mark but convinced enouth room had ben given chased the fleet and later took the lead. All was looking good till the last gybe mark and a poor manoeuvre saw them let the J97 through. At the leeward mark a gust caught 'Jeneral Lee' off guard and they broached into and then passed the mark on the wrong side. The race was on again as 'Redeye' sailed past as 'Jeneral Lee' attempted their penalty turns but in the excitement they forgot to re-round the mark and sailed on to the finish line not having completed the course and she was forced to retire from the race. To avoid a time consuming protest meeting whilst the bar was open 'Redeye' apologised to 'Vision' and also retired. 'J'Ronimo'
(J92) now found herself at the top of the race podium finish taking the honours with 'Shark Bite' and 'Vision' behind her.
Totting up the final results saw 'Neilson Redeye' (J92S) taking the series by just one point from 'Jeneral Lee' (J97) and Neilson 'Shark Bite' (SB3) in third.
'Neilson Redeye' (D4 and GPL carbon laminate) and 'Jeneral Lee' (D4) were using complete suits of Hyde Sails, as was the SB3 'Neilson Shark Bite' whilst 'J'Ronimo' found herself 'taking the bullet' in the final race whilst flying her Hyde #3.
For further information on yacht sails please contact either
Wooderz (Wooderz@hydesails.co.uk / 07764 933 894 ) or
Charles (charlesdevenport@hydesails.co.uk
/ 0845 543 89 57 )
The format was for the first race on the Friday evening followed by five races over the weekend with five races to count. With simple windward/leeward and triangle courses. The weather had still not settled into 'summer mode' and this spring regatta had a wintery feel about it with cold northerlies blowing through the weekend making for gusty offshore winds but flat seas. The scene was set for some great racing.
Race one saw some light and shifty conditions and the fleet split for the first leg. The smaller SB3 'Neilson Shark Bite' played the shifts well and sailed a faultless race to finish first with 'Neilson Redeye' (J92S) a minute behind on corrected time and just a few seconds ahead of 'Jeneral Lee' the new J97 in the fleet.
Race two on Saturday saw some more wind and 'Shark Bite' picking up a fishing net from somewhere which put her down the fleet and out of the next race as she retired to the marina to clear it from her keel. 'Jeneral Lee' sailed well to beat 'Redeye' by a few seconds and 'Vision', the SJ320, also made a showing on the podium.
Race three and the results remained the same before the fleet came in for lunch. Fresh fish and chips in the club house and a pint of Harveys best bitter was obviously what the 'Redeye' crew needed as they emerged after lunch to win race four with 'Jeneral Lee' and 'Shark Bite' picking up second and third. This left 'Jeneral Lee' and 'Redeye' tying on points over night with third place still open to the fleet.
Sunday was forecast windy and after a light start the breeze built to over 20 knots making for some interesting broaches on the reaches as the boats struggled to hold their spinnakers. 'Redeye' flying the new Hyde spinnaker, whilst being cut for downwind sailing, performed well on the reaches and took a win from 'Jeneral Lee' with 'Shark Bite' sailing well in the big stuff to secure a third.
A quick check on the results showed that the regatta win was dependent on the final race. 'Neilson Redeye' had a good start but were soon covered by the larger IRC1 fleet and unable to tack across and were forced out to the port layline for the windward mark whilst 'Jeneral Lee' had managed to extricate themselves from the pack and in clear air find themselves mixing it at the front of the fleet. 'Neilson Redeye' had a close call with 'Vision' near the windward mark but convinced enouth room had ben given chased the fleet and later took the lead. All was looking good till the last gybe mark and a poor manoeuvre saw them let the J97 through. At the leeward mark a gust caught 'Jeneral Lee' off guard and they broached into and then passed the mark on the wrong side. The race was on again as 'Redeye' sailed past as 'Jeneral Lee' attempted their penalty turns but in the excitement they forgot to re-round the mark and sailed on to the finish line not having completed the course and she was forced to retire from the race. To avoid a time consuming protest meeting whilst the bar was open 'Redeye' apologised to 'Vision' and also retired. 'J'Ronimo'
(J92) now found herself at the top of the race podium finish taking the honours with 'Shark Bite' and 'Vision' behind her.
Totting up the final results saw 'Neilson Redeye' (J92S) taking the series by just one point from 'Jeneral Lee' (J97) and Neilson 'Shark Bite' (SB3) in third.
'Neilson Redeye' (D4 and GPL carbon laminate) and 'Jeneral Lee' (D4) were using complete suits of Hyde Sails, as was the SB3 'Neilson Shark Bite' whilst 'J'Ronimo' found herself 'taking the bullet' in the final race whilst flying her Hyde #3.
For further information on yacht sails please contact either
Wooderz (Wooderz@hydesails.co.uk / 07764 933 894 ) or
Charles (charlesdevenport@hydesails.co.uk
/ 0845 543 89 57 )
posted by Hyde Sails at
20:56
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