Three visitors joined the local 5 boat fleet for the Fishers Green De May Vintage Merlin event. One of the local boats was newly restored 3314 Passion (winner of the 1983 Nationals) in her first outing for 15 years.
Greeted by a force 3 breeze gusting 4 from the west in champagne conditions, race officer Mo Allen set a course accordingly with a beat across the lake to 7. Nitro (2972) was over the line early and had to return to start again. First round the mark were 3185 (Godfrey Clark/Nick Yannakoyorgos) followed by 1742 (Jon and Anabel Steward) with 3314 closely behind (Richard Coulter and Chris Hill). The lead changed a few times between these three with 3185 taking line honours although the race was won by 3314 on corrected time (old rules spinnaker). The second race was held back to back but with the wind now coming from the north west the course was changed with a beat to 6. This time Godfrey and Nick held the lead to the finish showing the fleet a clean pair of heels. Some very close battles went on however for the remaining places with Jon and Anabel taking second place and visitors Nick Crickmore and Richard Holmes in third.
After an excellent curry lunch provided by the Saturday team, race 3 kicked off at 2pm in a bit more wind: with two different winners the event was still up for grabs. Another slight alteration to the course (to make the second beat less biased) followed by an uneventful start led to a beat which proved there was really only one way to go up the lake: stay on port and wait for a decent shift to take you along to the westerly shore. The dead downwind leg to complete the first lap caught a few out who took turns in inspecting their centreboards for damage. This time Godfrey and Nick were followed very closely by the visitors in 2972 who took the win on corrected time giving us a different winner for each race. Clearly the De May series handicap adjustments work very well giving very close racing.
By Nick Yannakoyorgos
