The St. George’s Day racing was the first of the racing season for The Sailing Association Mar Menor (SAMM). The start of the season had been delayed by unforeseen circumstances and also to allow the Junior Laser 4.7 European Championships to take place at C.T.D. Los Alcazares where over 330 juniors sailors took part over 9 very windy days many suffering broken masts or lost sails.
By Sunday the wind had dropped, thank goodness, to a challenging but pleasant 17 knots and eight boats arrived at the start line. The two larger Sailfish were sent off 5 minutes before the dinghies, to avoid any clashes but were soon caught up by the first of the dinghies, the Hartley 12.2 helmed by Don Clarke, closely followed by Julian Singleton, a new member, on his Topaz Uno. The wind overpowered Norman Vener on his Laser Radial who paid a heavy price by losing his rudder to the depths of the Mar Menor. The support boat quickly took GPS Readings and hopefully will recover the rudder another day.
The race continued with some helms getting stuck in “irons” and losing valuable time but all but Norman completed the four lap race.
For the second race the course was shortened, by removing the third buoy to make a triangular course, as the wind appeared to be stiffening. The gusts didn’t last long but enough to cause havoc going up to the first mark with the larger Sailfish boat with Leon, Janice and Derek suffering most.
The dinghies all crossed the start line together with only Bob and Geoff slightly off the pace, but it was clear that Dianne with Vernon and Ingo meant serious business aboard the Gamba.
Meanwhile the support boat crew spotted a kite surfer in difficulty with the lines wrapped all around her, decided to offer their assistance and brought the young lady back to shore.
The back markers fought hard for their places with Mick winning out over Bob and Geoff , only thing left was to work out the results on handicap which were as follows.
First race winner Topaz Uno, second race winner Shoestring Cuatro
