Jack Langdon Reverse Handicap race, 23rd October, 2005

The day did not bode well for the event, o’cast, some fog, some rain and no wind. Even so there were nine crews on the breakwater looking hopefully at the many wind indicators for signs of life. The start was put off to 1100 for the scratch boat.

MINKE crossed the line at exactly 1100, no mean achievement in about 2 knots of wind. The remaining boats followed until FINAL DASH with a rating of 110 crossed the start at 11:27:31. The wind from the southeast was gentle but more or less steady. There was little hope of the lower-rated boats making up the ground; however, FANDANGO was first around Batt Rock with MINKE in close pursuit.

The close reach to Captain Passage became interesting as the ebb tide increased and the gentle wind decreased. A huge parking lot developed close to the Prevost shore with ELECTRA, SOUL DANCER, MINKE, FANDANGO and STRAWBERRY EXPRESS all bunched below the cliffs. SAORSA, FINAL DASH and WESTWIND all went toward Nose Point, with WESTWIND proving that the farther over you go the better the outcome.

It was a grand mess at Peile Point with all but WESTWIND in a very close pack. FANDANGO broke clear first and established a formidable lead at Ben Mohr, followed by WESTWIND and ELECTRA. These three retained the breakout around Batt Rock for the second time and into the home stretch. FINAL DASH was closing the gap by Second Sister, but then the wind went fickle and the rest of the fleet was again in the race. Remember, in reverse handicap, first past the post wins—it was anyone’s race to win.

After over five hours of racing all boats crossed the line within 10 minutes, FANDANGO holding off ELECTRA to win by much less than a boat’s length. FINAL DASH was next, followed by MINKE about two boat lengths ahead of STRAWBERRY EXPRESS, and then WESTWIND less than a boat’s length ahead of SOUL DANCER and SAORSA, closing ground quickly but not quickly enough.

And that was it. A really interesting race in which all boats had the lead at some point, close racing for much of the way, and the sun came out for the finish. Great stuff!

Bob Jones,

ALACRITY