Race Report

The wind forecast for the Ashton was never very good and the only hope was that a sea breeze would come in early in the afternoon to provide some respite from the almost zero wind and strengthening adverse tide.  Course 7 was chosen with no modification and the Etchells, Pipers and Handicap Yachts made their way towards mark U : Roseneath Patch North. The vast majority chose to tack-up the shore to try to avoid the worst of the adverse tide and the boats that continued into Cardwell Bay benefited further.

All of a sudden the start of the westerly sea breeze did appear and the boats behind and furthest off-shore started to hoist spinnakers to re-join the fleet.  It wasn’t until the first boats had turned at the ‘windward’ mark and were well on their way back towards did the wind really start to fill-in.

Tide and time wait for no man (or person) and the Fixed Time Limit for racing of 16:30 hrs was fast approaching.  The Race Officer took to the water on one of the Club’s launches and headed for mark G (Levan) to finish the Etchells before the time limit which he managed to do successfully.

Unfortunately he did not manage to get back to mark F (McInroy’s) in time to finish the Pipers and Handicap Class within the Time Limit and none of the Pipers or Handicap Class crossed the shortened course finish line within the Time Limit.

Despite the lack of wind for the majority of the race it was a lovely dry, sunny day to be on the water.  Lock ‘n Load (Peter Judd) took first place in the Etchells Fleet and Defiance (Tom Lang) was second.

Balcony Party

Although the wind failed to put in an appearance for this year’s Ashton Regatta, Members by the score breezed in to watch the action (or lack of it) on the water from the balcony.  The Drams treated everyone to some great music, and barbecued burgers and wall to wall sunshine completed the picture.

A big thank you to our staff who pulled out all the stops to serve the unexpectedly high numbers who turned up to enjoy the day.  Full marks to them all.