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Displaying items by tag: Gwylan Islands

An 11 mile beat to Gwylan Islands was a challenging part of ISORA's race three – the Pwllheli Day Race –  and the crew on the J109 Sgrech made the best of the upwind leg getting to the Islands well ahead of the rest of the fleet.

The race was a fantastic advert for offshore racing with something for everyone and a little of everything.

The forecast was for a 4 to 5 NW with WNW later and the scenic, triangular 40 mile course was set with a start from the CHPSC bridge and a short close reach to PSC 2. We then had a long (11miles) white sail reach to the Causeway cardinal buoy. The fleet at this point was bunched together with Xpletive slightly ahead but Mojito and Wennol III looking good.

The 11 mile beat to Gwylan Islands was challenging and the crew on Sgrech making the best of the upwind leg getting to the Islands well ahead of the fleet.

Then the start of the downwind spinnaker leg with what was billed as an exciting 15 miles of fast and furious not going to plan. A squall came through at Cilan Headland and caught Sgrech with her spinnaker up on the outside track. This squall brought a new head wind and allowed white sailed Xpletive to take an inside track to take the lead.

Early problems with Mojito's spinnaker allowed Wennol III through to third place at Cilan. Wennol III spotted the squall and wisely doused her spinnaker early and closed up on the leaders.

The wind backed and allowed a close reach for the finish with Expletive taking line honours closely followed by Sgrech with her a-sail closing the gap.

New to ISORA, Nanuaq, a Moody 38s thoroughly enjoyed the racing and they are now looking forward to the Pwllheli to Wicklow race on Saturday 28th May (and the party in Wicklow after racing).

Rank Fleet Boat SailNo Type Rating Start Finish Elapsed Corrected Points
1 Class 1 Xpletive 4242 X Yachts 1.027 10.35.00 16.25.55 5.50.55 6.00.23 92.7
2 Class 2 Sgrech GBR9319R J109 1.026 10.35.00 16.27.03 5.52.03 6.01.12 82.1
3 Class 2 Wennol GBR 1347  1.008 10.35.00 16.46.00 6.11.00 6.13.58 71.4
4 Class 3 Mojito GBR4184 Bravaria 38 0.998 10.35.00 16.57.24 6.22.24 6.21.38 60.7
5 Class 3 Nanuq 6395  0.965 10.35.00 17.55.00 7.20.00 7.04.36 50.1
Published in ISORA