Wednesday 11th June
On a beautiful summers evening, three YOD’s set out to race. There was a toast mark in the course – where if you get it wrong, you are toast. Puffin and Pimpernel managed to get round Lymington Bank ( the aforesaid toast mark) but Blandina misjudged the strength of the tide and was toasted.
With the wind gradually dropping off, Blandina retired. Puffin was the first Y home with Pimpernel the last Class 3 boat to finish, but finish she did!
Sunday 15th June
With the other fleets playing at Lymington, the YOD’s had their Asparagus Race for the second year running. Malcolm Taylor as Race Officer assembled a strong team at Grants and with a NNE wind and incoming tide set 2, 17, 4, 16, 11 three times round with all but 17 to starboard. At the start, Genista and Diatom were at the ODM, with Puffin a little further back, followed by Pimpernel and Blandina. There was a great deal of position changing on the first three legs: Genista led Diatom until after 17, when Diatom tacked early into the tide and got past her. At 4 Puffin pounced and took the lead but was harried by Diatom on the run back to 11. Genista fell back on the two leaders, and Blandina started to close in on her as Pimpernel tried fishing for prawns when the spinnaker went into the water when a shackle broke. The next two laps were less frenetic, but with a lovely breeze and flat water and an excellent course there was much to enjoy. Puffin won, but nearly lost out after rounding 11 for the final time as she held out on starboard tack, whereas Diatom tacked after the mark and went straight at the line. Genista held off a determined attack from Blandina, but Pimpernel missed going through the line on the second lap, so was marked as DNF.