The SAMM Autumn Series racing finished with the races on November 11th. Of the planned 22 races, only 11 were completed, the others having had to be cancelled due mainly to adverse weather conditions.
Fixed Lap races (normally 4 laps) were the norm at the beginning of the season but the Race Committee switched to Average Lap racing for the final 6 races as this was thought to make for closer completion between the very wide range of boats in the fleet.
The smallest being the little 3 meter Seahopper of Mick Burgess, through the privately owned dinghies, the Shoestring Group owned Lasers and Gambas to the 6 meter Balaton Group owned Sailfish and Arraez Arabel.
The group boats were sailed by many different members as the season progressed because not all members live permanently in Spain. A total of 28 SAMM members took part at some time during the season.
The races are scored using the “low score” and the 3 worst scores for each boat were dropped to calculate the final scores and positions.
First with just 13 points (4 firsts, 2 seconds, 2 thirds and 1 fifth) was the Balaton Arraez Arabel “Lavanter” mainly skippered by Robert Hudson but with various crew. Second with 23.5 point, the Topaz Duo sailed by Julian Singleton and third with 33 points, the Shoestring Laser 2000 “Dos” sailed by Dianne Hardwick and Brian Murray.
The results were announced and the trophies presented at the SAMM meeting on December 12th. Robert and Dianne collected theirs but Julian was unable to attend because he is one of those people who still have to do something called work.
The Spring 2019 Series will start sometime in March. You can find out all about SAMM and the 2019 race dates on the web site www.sailingmarmenor.com
