The racing started promptly at 10.00 with Chris Elliott (OOD) and Darin Ballington spending over 30 minutes to set a challenging course in a very difficult wind direction that was swinging by 10-15 degrees. The weather was great and the lake looked in great condition. The course involved a dog leg and the usual downwind gate. The wind was anywhere between a light A rig and a heavy gusty A rig, challenging all skippers set up and boat control in reading the wind. A small movement of the course marks was undertaken after 4 races. The start line was close to the clubhouse and clearly visible to all, which led to all races being started first time and very few start line incidents.

There were 14 boats that had entered with 6 different designs, although the top 7 places were taken by Britpop! and Venti designs. Chris  E was back with his refurbished Britpop! and Mick C sailed his trusted Venti, Chris Graves also sailed his refurbished Britpop! Overall there were 11 races sailed and four different race winners, the most notable being Darin who won 7 races. The sailing was done at a fairly quick pace with the majority of incidents being recognised and penalty turns being done.

It was a day where consistent sailing showed, and the top 5 overall were usually in the top 5 in each race. With Darin being the most consistent and coming first, next was Mick C with an excellent set of results. As the morning went by it was noticeable that the fleet were getting closer as time went on, showing considerable improvement in many skippers.

Congratulations to Darin in first and Mick in second place.

Report by Chris Elliott

Pete W’s Venti 65 at the I.O.M Ranking at Chelmsford 2024 ??

Pictures by various artists , Thank you .

Come and have a go at this fabulous Sport/hobby