2016 Raceboard season kicks off at Christchurch

The first event of the UKWA calendar was eagerly anticipated, with a nice raceboard forecast at the excellent coastal venue of Christchurch on Englands South Coast.

There was a strong entry list spanning more than 50 years of age. The more, er, 'experienced' competitors such as Rob Kent, Mark Kay, John Pete, and Tom Naylor are still flying around faster than most, but the younger seniors (i.e. not youth) including myself, Harriet Ellis, and Lewis Barnes now frequently challenge for the prizes. However, this year, the youth fleet has grown again, and they even did some training over the winter with none other than Mr Kay as coach.

I can't say I did much training, but I'm sure wave-sailing helps?

Louis Morris sailing into the sunset... a couple of years ago, but at least it makes this blog a bit more colourful. Photo by Ross Morris.

The wind on Saturday is probably most politely described as "inconsistent" or "unstable". Coming directly off the land, the wind was very shifty and gusty. Add to this a few big clouds and a couple of knots of tide, and you have a tactical game to navigate!

Unfortunately, my memory can't quite recall the intricacies of each race this many days later. But anyway, it was really close, I think I had the edge when it came to boardspeed, and I felt a lot fitter than this time last year, which helped with some pumping downwind in the 4-10 ish knots of breeze. Mark Kay is best known for is insane pace in the strong wind, but his speed in the light conditions was very impressive. In the shifty conditions, positions changed frequently, with myself, Mark, Rob, Tom, Lewis, and Jamie Ingram all in the mix. There was also a 20+ knot squall that came out of knowhere after lunch to give us a bit of (freezing cold) excitement! By the time the raceboards had started though, it had dropped to 15 knots, then 12 at the windward mark, 8 at the leeward, 5 at the finish!

Lewis Barnes a couple of months ago at an LWA icebreaker. Photo by John Liddy

In the end, I made it round the course fastest, with 3 wins, Mark in 2nd with 2, 2, 3, and Rob in 3rd, closely followed by Tom. Harriet Ellis had a solid day, with a solid lead over second placed lady Annette Kent. As for the youths; it was Molly Howell who held a very slender lead, with some really impressive light wind speed. However, with only a few points separating the 6 youths, the prize was wide open for Sundays racing.

Sunday was really fantastic, and also very different to Saturday. The tide was still there, and it was a bit on the choppy side, but the wind was pretty consistent in direction and strength. To win, you had to choose the best side of the course, nail the start, and go fast. Initially, there was a bit of disagreement as to which side of the course was best. The start line had a lot of port bias, and with the tide flowing more or less downwind, half the fleet opted for a port flyer straight to the less tidal right hand side. I don't like port flyers, and me and Lewis nailed the pin end on starboard tack, headed out to sea, and came out better off. I think that there must have been a bit more wind out to sea in that beat, because basically every following beat, it paid to go inshore, in the weaker tide, with a wind bend off the headland. Even in the afternoon, when the tide turned, inshore paid, because the tide slackened and turned there first.

Upwind, it was myself, Tom, Mark and Lewis that where the quickest. In the lighter winds of the morning, I had a nice speed advantage downwind, and this helped hand me two more bullets. Mark finished second, and Rob took 3rd in each of the races with better downwind speed compared to Lewis and Tom.

Mark Kay last year - and still fast this year! Photo by Karen Battye

The wind picked up in the afternoon. I jammed up my mast track in the first race, and Tom Naylor flew round the course, with Mark in pursuit, and Jamie Ingram taking 3rd in a tight battle for the line with Lewis.

Mark was the fastest in the final race, but Lewis was finding a bit of a groove, and it was pretty hard work for me to keep him at bay. I rounded the leeward mark just a couple of boardlengths behind Mark, but ran out of outhaul and had to tack to the unfavoured side in order to pull enough on for the upwind leg. This cost me any chance of catching him, and allowed Lewis to fly into second place. I'm often in 2nd behind Mark when it's breezy, but I don't like being in 3rd, so pumped like crazy down the last run to steal the inside line from Lewis and take second behind a jubilant Mark.

It was much closer between Harriet and Annette on Sunday, but Harriet still had the edge, and she finished the event as first woman.

In the youths, Julian Tait, Rebecca Kent, and Galahad Wisbey enjoyed the slightly stronger wind and performed the best. However, Alice Butts and Emily Kent remained on consistent form, with Molly Howell still in strong contention. As the wind increased, it was Julian and Galahad who edged ahead, and in the end, it was Julian who took the well-deserved 1st youth prize, with Rebecca 2nd and Galahad 3rd.