Racing at West Baldwin Reservoir went ahead on Sunday morning following the cancellation of the previous week. Those optimists that made it to the lake last week witnessed the vicious gusts rolling into the valley and blasting unpredictably over the water, conditions that would have, regardless of the course, provided a beat, a reach, a run and a capsize on each leg.

Wind this Sunday morning, despite the continuous rain, was altogether more manageable, blowing up the reservoir from the dam producing the usual confused area in the lea of the dam. The OOD was able to set a course using the full length of the lake rounding the marks both to port and starboard to liven things up.

For the first race 17 starters made their way by various routes arriving at the windward mark as a bunch. This continued to the following marks but with a different leader at each one. So close was the racing that the first six boats to finish were only separated by 30 seconds. Ffinlo Wright in his Tera sailed well to finish only 4 minutes behind the first finisher, on corrected time this gave him his first win and also the first win for a junior this winter. Simon Pressley (Laser) came in second and Andrew and Owen Williams (Laser 2000) third.

For the second race it was the Fireball of Dan Roberts and Kristian Cowin which led the way followed by Angus Jolly (Laser) and Rob Cowell/Phil Hardisty (RS 200), this group pulled away from the fleet with Rob finishing first, followed by Angus and Dan in third. Yet again it was Ffinlo who sailed well to finish third on corrected time, but Rob and Phil managed to get far enough ahead to claim first place with Angus second.

Many thanks to the OOD and safety boat crew.

Results – Race 1

1st Ffinlo Wright
2nd Simon Pressley
3rd Andrew/Owen Williams
4th Mike Pridham
5th Brian Quayle
6th Joe/Eric Whitelegg
7th Ralph Kee
8th Rob Cowell/Phil Hardisty
9th Angus Jolly
10th Paul Melling/Jenny Lantry
11th Ted/Keith Holden
12th Michael Moore
13th Ben Batchelor
14th Dan Roberts/Kristian Cowin
15th Jason Hyett
16th Jim Whitelegg
17th Tim Cope

Results – Race 2

1st Rob Cowell/Phill Hardisty
2nd Angus Jolly
3rd Ffinlo Wright
4th Simon Pressley
5th Mike Pridham
6th Joe/Eric Whitelegg
7th Ralph Kee
8th Brian Quayle
9th Ted/Keith Holden
10th Jim Whitelegg
11th Dan Roberts/Kristian Cowin
12th Michael Moore
13th Paul Melling/Jenny Lantry
14th Jason Hyett

Overall results for January are:

1st Mike Pridham
2nd Rob Cowell/Phil Hardisty
3rd Brian Quayle