Autumn Series Race 3 - Solo

Published 19:18 on 18 Sep 2023

The fleet of 15 Solos were greeted with a NNE force 2-3 giving very little bias on the start line. The new flood tide had not yet started to run which allowed a clean start with boats spread across the line. Tim Fells made the best start in the middle of the line with Graham Cranford Smith just to windward and these two led the fleet in a close tussle up through the harbour.

Keeping to the left hand side of the beat past Snapes Point paid dividends for Fells as there was a bit more breeze allowing him to break away from the chasing pack which was now led by Simon Dobson. On the beat through The Bag and fetch out to Gerston, Fells continued to extend and held a 100m lead turning downwind.

Returning to The Bag, Fells ran out of wind allowing Simon Dobson and James Greenhill to come up on pressure and restart the race for the lead. Dobson held a lower line past Tosnos Point and pulled away in pressure as Fells floundered in the foul tide. By Snapes, Dobson had pulled out his own 100m lead and was first into the stronger pressure in the harbour.

With good breeze all the way down to Blackstone, Dobson extended away and, with the tide under him on the beat back to the finish, came home for a dominant win. Fells consolidated his second place with Greenhill in third, these leading three a long way ahead of the rest of the fleet who had been badly held up in The Bag. Chris Cleaves was a distant fourth ahead of Simon Yates with Gavin Stevens rounding out the top six.

By Tim Fells

Library Photos By Lucy Burn