WS Summer Race #6

12^th September 2019

A warm, somewhat muggy, day at Chipstead, with a steady 12mph westerly producing an opportunity for a beat to the 1^st mark – always a plus.  John, Fleur & Paul were in the race hut.  Last week we used flags in the start process in addition to the sound signal.  This week we raised all 3 flags at the 3 minute, then lowered 1 with each of the 2, 1 & 0 sound signals.

There is a video showing from 3 minutes before the start to when the boats get to the first mark “A”.  There’s a bit too much movement on the mobile phone.  Next time a tripod.  Its interesting to see what everyone was doing in the build up to the start, and maybe contrast it what you were doing and how it evolved into the start.  Keith Eeles (6^th) made probably the best start from the middle of the line, crossing ahead of Mark Cayzer (2nd), who’d made an excellent start at the very crowded windward end.  Peter Wagner (3^rd) also chose to be in clear air at the leeward end of the line and set off well.  But after about 30 seconds, he was caught on port by Mark Cayzer.  Peter Gregory (1st) was close behind Mark, followed by Fay Wilson (5^th).  As the first leg evolves, Martin Norman (4^th) follows Peter Wagner from the leeward end in clear air.

Of course starting isn’t everything.  It’s interesting to see that while Peter Gregory was behind by Mark at the start, and was 4^th by the 1^st mark, by the end he was 1^st overall – how does he do it?  Derek Preston was just that little bit too impetuous, and had to go round and restart, yet pulled back to 7^th.

If you do a web search for “Dinghy Racing Start Techniques” there are a good number of interesting articles, which go into quite some detail about ideas such as checking the line bias to decide on which end to go for, timing runs to the line etc. both in articles and videos.

Result of Summer Race 6                               

1        Peter Gregory                   Liberty 22

2        Mark Cayzer & Ann           303 11

3        Peter Wagner                    Liberty 21

4        Martin Norman & Sebastian         Martin 125

5        Fay Wilson & James          303 10

6        Keith Eeles                       Liberty 25

7        Derek Preston                   Liberty 24

8        Imogen Fletcher & Helen   303 7

9        Steve Farmer                    303 9

10      Malcolm Hill                      Martin 126

11       Mike Blatchford                 Liberty 23

12      Geoff Taylor                      303 4

13      Ian Gubb                          303 8

14      Ben Gubb & Brian             303 6