1st Mac and Simon Townsend, (2 points)
2nd Len Jones and Pete Mitchell (6)
3rd Mogens Just and Anders Friis (6)
4th Stewart and Catriona Coltart (12)
5th Bill Whitney and John Shelton (12)
-Tim Townsend, UKWA Racing Secretary
Battered! We’re all too old to sail Wayfarers in a healthy force 4 (top end) for four 50 minute races in a fierce chop (the locals call it a crabsea). The wave pattern caused several helms to lose balance during tacks and gybes. One Danish helm fell out of his boat in a tack causing a capsize.
Mixed results for the English boats. Mac still holds the lead after two wins and two disappointing results (when I told him I’d be delighted with a 3rd and a 4th he told me I didn’t understand!). Len and Pete had a difficult day as did the Coltarts. The McKenzies on the other hand had an excellent day.
The forecast is for stronger wind tomorrow and another 4 races because Saturday is looking very windy. Oh my!
Top 5 after 6 races:
1st Mac and Simon (7 points)
2nd Mogens Just and Anders Friis (8)
3rd Jorgen Iverson (25)
4th Bill Whitney and John Shelton (28)
5th Martin Bak and crew (31)
-Tim Townsend, UKWA Racing Secretary
As expected the wind today was strong enough to blow dogs off chains. After a long postponement to allow the wind to decrease a little (although there seemed few signs of a decrease to me) a somewhat depleted fleet launched into a raunchy force 5-6 for two races. Mac later described the gusts as monsters (requiring the whole main to flog upwind to stay upright) while the wave pattern again caused problems; stopping the boats completely if you got it wrong.
From the shore the leaders impressed as they flew down the run, skilfully flying their spinnakers and usually gunning successfully although even Mac and Simon managed to get one of their gybes horribly wrong; one of the Danish helms meanwhile managed to get his foot caught in the spinnaker sheet during the gybe with inevitable wet consequences.
A win and a second place apiece for Mac/Simon and Mogens/Anders means no change at the top with a couple of races to go in similar conditions tomorrow,
Top 5 after 8 races:
1st Mac and Simon (10)
2nd Mogens Just and Anders (11)
3rd Jorgen Iversen (36)
4th Christian Milert Hansen (45)
5th Niels Alslev (47)
Friday night at Assens was very windy. Forecasts for Saturday varied. Mine (XC Weather) suggested 24-29mph until about 1400 when it would reduce to 17-26 (still a lot). On the other hand the locals’ forecast was in metres/second which was bound to cause confusion. They also seemed to have a rule that they wouldn’t race if the average exceeded 12m/sec which would be about 24 knots. They seemed confident that conditions would be eminently sailable by 1330 allowing time for two more races.
The equation was simple. If Mogens Just won both races he would win the title from Mac on countback repeating his victory from Heeg a couple of years ago.
Boats were rigged (some of the fleet with reefed sails and masthead buoyancy) and the fleet launched into a breeze which was in truth, by then, a touch less than the previous day.
Mac and Simon had their serious heads on. Mogens was seen doing some serious stretching before he launched.
Not long before the scheduled start a lone Wayfarer was seen sailing back into the harbour. This was Mogens whose back (injured while sailing a Melges) was causing too much pain for him to race. Indeed, Anders, his crew had helmed the boat home with Mogens sitting as still as possible and in obvious pain.
This could have been an anticlimax but Mac and Simon stayed afloat and delivered a masterclass in heavy weather dinghy racing, winning both races and with them the Championship. The boat-handling of all the boats who ventured out, especially those who flew spinnakers, was exemplary. It was a joy to watch.
Congratulations to Mac and Simon for retaining the European title.
Well done, also, to Brian and Liz McKenzie who sailed all the races and finished 6th overall and second placed UKWA boat.
-Tim Townsend
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