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ARCHIVED - First day of SAMM Sailing Mar Menor gets underway a week late
The spring sailing race season on the Mar Menor eventually got away to a good start
From left to right: John Down, Laser Radial. Jack Moss, Cuatro. Julian Pering and Paddy O’Donovan, Vision. SAMM Racing.
The first day of the SAMM Spring Race Season had to be cancelled on Sunday March 19 due to the very high wind forecast in the Mar Menor. But March 26 dawned bright and clear with a gentle southwesterly breeze of 5 knots so it was a go.
Six boats came to the start line at 11.15 for the first race – two Sailfish from the Balaton Group, two Gambas and a Laser 2000 from the Shoestring Group and John Downs’s Laser Radial. The dinghies all got away well but it was a bad start for both Sailfish: Vision got stuck in irons and Sirocco went round the wrong buoy so both were at the back of the fleet. Then it was a gentle procession around the course.
At 11.40, the wind dropped to 3 knots and backed to the south which caught out a few boats and enabled Vision, whose crew read the wind shift well, to close the gap on the leaders. Just as the “about to finish” signal was made, the wind increased to 4.5 knots and backed further to the east, enabling Vision to cross the finish line 10 seconds ahead of the Gamba Uno.
The second race started promptly at 12.29, again in a 5-knot breeze which held throughout the race. All boats got away smartly, with John Down first over, and then the fleet started to spread out a little between the first and second mark as the faster boats pulled away from the slower.
There was little excitement, but John had to do a 360 penalty at the second mark, allowing the Gamba Cuatro to take the lead, and there was some close racing between John and the Laser 2000 throughout the race.
These are average lap races with boats handicapped in line with the RYA Portsmouth Yardstick system. When the results were calculated they showed that the racing was very close. The average lap times were:-
- First race 1st Vision 759 seconds, 2nd Laser Radial 761 seconds, third Gamba Cuatro 767 seconds.
- Second race 1st Vision 441 seconds, 2nd Gamba Cuatro 509 seconds, third Laser 2000 511 seconds.
For full information on SAMM and sailing on the Mar Menor, go to www.sailingmarmenor.com
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