Well, to be honest, after the previous week, SAMM racing seemed a bit boring on May 20th despite a good turnout of 15 competitors and 10 boats.
The winds were quite light, for the start of the first race. No incidents occurred and the race was a case of follow my leader. The Topaz led from the start followed by the Hartley, a Laser 2000, Laser Radial, the second 2000, Quba, Deltania with the two Sailfish bringing up the rear. This order remained unchanged for most of the race. The Topaz was the winner on corrected time.
The second race had more wind and the both Laser 2000’s and the Hartley soon pulled away but, on the second lap, as they were beating from the start gate up to the first buoy, the wind shifted and whilst they had been forced on a long tack both the Quba and Laser Radial got a ride straight to the first buoy cutting the corner so to speak and affecting the results for sure.
This produced one of the closest results for many weeks once the handicaps were applied. The Topaz again was first but the following 4 boats were separated by just 10, 74, 2, and 6 seconds.
For the first time in a number of years one of the two Deltania day boats in SAMM came over and joined the racing to be rewarded by two 7th place results.
