Race-2 saw Simon at the front again with Tim Garvin, Class Chairman, and Chris Sallis coming into contention. Tim and Simon repeatedly traded the lead with Tim at the front when it counted. Newcomer Al Hall had possibly the most eventful start and finish; he executed a perfect port-tack start to whoops of comment from the main fleet struggling to reach the line against a serious windshift, then eventually managed to capsize almost on the finish line, but able to drift his extended bowsprit across for a gun! Race-3 was in lesser breeze and the fleet rounded the windward mark with barely a gennaker-sheet separating the peloton; with lots of different speed lanes downwind it was Chris first in his new craft, then Tim who made the breakaway. Simon, Ben Falat, Al Hall and Paul Birbeck all traded places as the shifts came and went. Tim judged the final gybe of the race perfectly and slipped ahead of Chris to take his second bullet and hold the overnight lead; Ben judged the final gybe of the race not so perfectly and with 20m to run to the finish capsized. Oxford Sailing Club offered up some excellent tea and cakes and then a few beers were enjoyed as we all pondered the shifts we had missed !
Sunday was a bit lighter but still with lots of gusts and shifts; Contenders starting first saw a huge starboard lift developing and they all crowded the line enough to cause a General Recall; as previously promised by the Race Officer, any ‘General’ would due to programme-constraints result in Black-Flags for all remaining races; the D-Ones were now on their first vicarious ‘Black’. Race-4 saw Simon pull through to take the bullet with Chris 2nd and Tim 3rd. This put Tim and Simon level on points and the next race saw them well out to the port side of the downwind course tussling. Tim got the win while Al retained another good start-line execution to secure 3rd spot. Going into race-6 Tim and Simon were level on points and both clear enough of third place overall; this race would decide the whole event. The wind had now gone well left and Al Hall nailed yet another perfect pin end port start to lead up the first beat. As the race went on Tim and Chris moved ahead swapping the lead as the shifts went further left. Once again the race came down to the last run and this time Chris held his lead to cross a few seconds ahead of Tim with Simon in 3rd.
This gave Tim the overall win, Simon 2nd and Chris 3rd. The racing was well organised and the race team turned all the races around in a matter of minutes. The conditions made for close racing throughout the fleet with three different race winners and four different 2nd places across the 6 races. The fleet moves to Weir Wood in a couple of weeks for a Class-Sponsored Training Day with Charlie Cumbley (NorthOneDesign®) offering his wisdom and insight; then in May we head to Paignton for the POSH Regatta and the Europeans in June on Lake Lipno in the Czech Republic.
The Class offers a D-One come-and-try first experience at their Weir Wood Training Day on Saturday 16th April (please contact the Class Secretary beforehand); with easy access from London and the South Coast the inland conditions at Weir Wood might just be the ticket into this Class. So far everybody who has tried it has been smitten!
