Sailing Report for Warming Pan races 1 -4. Patrick Palmer
Published 09:28 on 14 Mar 2023
Two Sunday's worth of sailing to report on but do not be dismayed at this grim prospect; what follows is crisp, snappy and toothsome; in fact just like Warming Pan races 3&4.
Sunday 5th March, the curtain raiser for 2023 Season, saw a fleet of 6, plus Marcus sporting his Farr 3.7, a nippy little wooden skiff but not entering the fray. Conditions were a little tricky with off-shore light & gusty winds, as well as some extra helpings of cold which were simply ghastly. It was, though, a relief to be out on the water after landlocked January/February (and pretty much all of December/November), seeing Rob&Fi race away, to enjoy Jonty & Sasha's grilled pork products, and to talk meaningful sailing-talk without having to bear sighs and ill-tempered impatience from mere civilians.
With an agreeably cheerful "Good Luck" from Sarah Rose, our new Commodore, first-2023 Race Officer Matt Cooper sent us out to do a pretty straightforward windward/leeward course. You did have to pay a bit of attention as there was a few holes in the wind, and then a bit of a gusty spot which took displeasure at the Nacra 570 duo dithering on leeward after a tack and so Phil G/Steve Wilburn get the honour of the first capsize of the season. Jamie&Luca Medina did nearly pip Rob/Fi after they fell into one of the holes, but not quite. It could be said that the Medina's put in the performance of the day given that they were second in R1, and admittedly last in R2 but mitigating circs are that by the end of the race their port hull was completely full of water. Just imagine how well they'd have done if Jamie hadn't attempted to fix the gaping hole with blu-tack, or flour and water based glue, or whatever it was.
Or perhaps that Valentins David & Theodore in the Feva deserve at least mentions in these despatches, getting a very respectable 4th/2nd in the first 2, and absolutely going for it in well-dodgy conditions for R3/R4, with a good 20+knots and big seas, sensibly retiring though they did. But the big plaudits go to Rob/Fi.
Despite the blip, the Nacra 570 showed itself to be fast and well handled by big-Phil/moderately-sized-Steve, and the rest of the fleet comprised Gilbert & me each sailing solo, the former paying the aforementioned close attention and doing well, the latter less so.
Mike Cody/Paul Seggery looked after us on the water, braving the cold. Thanks boys.
Sunday 12th: Rod Winrow and Sarah Gee were in charge but despite this gold-standard race team, r3&4 nearly didn't happen given a pretty big swell and stiff-ish south-westerly and not that many takers. In the end Debs/Barry were enticed onto the water to stroll through the first race with flashy ease, leaving the Medinas to show Gilbert/me (who combined to avoid having to sail single-handed) how to tack at the windward mark and take 2nd. The Valentin Feva sensibly abandoned having got a taste of the conditions before r3 began.
The second race saw Debs/Barry execute an almost perfect manoeuvre of pulling down their main and retiring before it started. This left Gilbert/PP, and Medinas' to fight out two laps of rather fractious seas/winds to finish in that order after two laps of a thankfully short course.
Having returned to the beach we were treated to an unconventional patrol boat landing in really nasty beach-break; Jerry Robinson's arrival in the shallows just a second or so ahead of the boat and crew Katie Webb was thankfully a mere footnote to proceedings but it did show how timing is all when trying to get in safely.
The excellent new results system with gold/silver/bronze demarcations and baffling accuracy is as a result of Phil Selwood's efforts and we are jolly grateful to him, and all the others named and unnamed who have put together yet another season that promises larks a plenty and literally probably some of the best sailing on the south coast ever. To be fair.