Competitors were greeted with warm sunshine and a Northerly breeze which was blowing all the way down through the harbour raising expectations of a much more even start line.
At the top of the leader board, with a discard, three boats were tied for the lead on 5 points with two more within two points. Thursday was therefore likely to be a pivotal day in the fight for the title.
RACE 3: GREEN v BLACK Flights, COURSE 7,3,7
The start was clean with many boats hitting the line at full speed, spread evenly across the harbour. Those in the middle prospered by getting onto port and getting a lift in pressure up the harbour. At Snapes, the leading group was Simon Potts and Holly McArthur, Mike and Jane Calvert (overnight leaders) and Simon Blake and Alex Jackson.
These leading three were joined by Stu Bithell and Katherine Kimber at Crossways, with Tom Gillard and Rachael Grey in close attendance. Taxi and Pippa were outside the top ten.
On the beat back to Gerston in a lightening breeze, Tom and Rachael came through to lead from Matt and Hannah Greenfield onto a very light run to the finish. Places remained the same, although Mike and Jane almost took second place at the line. Stu and Katherine jumped two places on the line for fourth ahead of Simon and Holly, with George and Sophie Yeoman taking sixth. Taxi and Pippa's title challenge suffered from a 10th place, meaning they have to count an 8th.
RACE 4: RED v BLUE Flights, Course 1,5,1,3,1,3
The wind had completed its switch to the South by the afternoon, the sun was out and all was set for a glamorous sail. After a clean start and a fast beat up to Blackstone, the leading two teams of Christian Birrell and Luke Patience, and Ian Dobson and Ally Potts rounded ahead of the pack.
With a well-established F2-3 sea breeze, there were few passing places. Christian and Luke continued to control the race but Caroline Croft and Faye Chatterton came through to challenge them for the lead, passing Ian and Ally.
All the top places looked locked in until the final stages. As the leading pack ran down passed the Ferry landing the breeze began to break up. Richard Whitworth and Jemima Scroggie, followed by Matt Biggs and Becca Jones, crossed the tide to the Batson side and came blasting in with new pressure to take third and fourth at Crossways.
There was still some drama to play out. On the final beat to the line, Christian and Luke, maintaining a strong cover on Caroline and Faye, clipped a moored boat. Well, not any moored boat, a 50ft motor yacht. They had to complete a 360 penalty and this was all that Caroline and Faye needed to grab the lead and take their second bullet of the week. Christian and Luke came in second ahead of Richard and Jemima, and Matt and Becca. Dave Winder and Anna Blake had been holding a top six position all race and came home in fifth ahead of Jon Ibbotson and Robbie Stewart having their best race of the week. Ian and Ally's title challenge hit the rocks with a 12th which they have to count.
So going into the final day, when the discard will come into play, the fight at the top is between three teams. Christian and Luke have 1,2,2,2 but a bad discard of 27th. Tom and Rachael have 1,1,3,3 with a good discard of 5th. Mike and Jane have 2,2,2,3 with a discard of 5th. Tom and Rachael are in the morning race and will then have the excitement of watching their main challengers battle out in the afternoon.
The forecast is for light airs with the possibility of a sea breeze.
Report by Tim Fells
