ILCA Spring Series at Queen Mary Sailing Club - Day 2

ILCA Spring Series at Queen Mary © Simon Winkley

34 ILCAs lined up on the second Sunday of the Spring Series at Queen Mary Sailing Club after a very tedious lockdown. It is the tradition at QM that the first to round the windward mark of the first race writes the race report - this week that honour comes to Mark Lyttle. It's worth noting that the ILCA club racing at QM is without doubt the most competitive in the country - so hats off to all those who took part.

Race Report by Mark Lyttle

Great racing today with so many boats in quite challenging conditions and lots of place changing. I certainly have enjoyed the last two Sundays sailing a lot more than my usual lockdown walk.

ILCA Spring Series at Queen Mary - photo © Simon Winkley

The first start was delayed slightly by a persistent leftie with Andy and Jill Peters resetting the course perfectly. The line was reasonably even and I launched off the middle and tacked on the first header. I think Orlando Gledhill was furthest to the right of those that got away quickly on that header with Mike Hicks above him and then Tony Woods, myself and Steve Janering. As we went across I started to lose to those below as the wind headed and with lots of room on the left (meaning you could take the lift with lots of time for it to head before the port lay line) I decided to tack as did Steve. We took the lift and then got a gust and header and were able to come into the mark on port at a nice angle just ahead of Tony (I think). Sadly for us we rounded in a lull and the rest of the fleet charged down the run, bunching the leaders up.

Josh Lyttle during the ILCA Spring Series at Queen Mary - photo © Simon Winkley

Next beat summed up the day - left or right? Let me give you my view (sorry this is more serious discussion on tactics than humorous commentary). The wind was fluctuating randomly in direction and strength but around the same median i.e. it always returns to the median eventually (unless there's a persistent shift like before the start). What does this mean? Well at the start of the second beat the wind had returned to the median direction but the next shift is random - left or right - it is not an oscillation where the wind shifts back and forwards in a rhythm. And the strategy is to stay on lifts in gusts but don't look for a pattern as there isn't one.

Darragh, Tony and I were taking the shifts on the middle left when a big right came in - I dropped to about 10th, with Steve and Mike (amongst others - sorry I don't recall as I was in a state of awe) coming through strongly. After more bunching the fleet on the reaches, Steve broke his tiller extension leaving Mike and Darragh to fight it out on the next beat, both leading at different stages until the leeward mark where Darragh decided to give us all chance by finishing (too) early. Myself, Tony and Mike fought it out over the last beat and were within a couple of boat lengths of each other on the reaches (Tony even rather petulantly asking me to speed up on one of them as the others were catching), finishing in that order.

Gareth Edwards during the ILCA Spring Series at Queen Mary - photo © Simon Winkley

The second race was another tricky affair. With a heavy port bias, Roger O'Gorman virtually jumped over the pin mark on to port and crossed the fleet. Chris, Dick and Orlando got away from the pin in style, tacking straightway on to a one-sided beat (as an aside when this happens you have to be near the pin). Roger pipped Orlando at the first mark followed by Chris Ellyatt and Dick Soderberg with Tony, Darragh and the author close behind. The leeward mark was the craziest I can remember at QM - 6 or 7 boats overlapped in 12 knots as we went around - I know as I was on the outside! We will need a gate soon.

Special mention for Gareth Edward's death roll into one of the trapezing single handers - thankfully no damage to crew or boats. It stayed close for the next lap with Roger staying ahead but unable to extend. At the start of the next beat, most of the top group headed left but as I was just behind, I stayed on right and crossed everyone - now you may think "left or right, 50:50, he was just lucky" or I could claim everyone else took the header as they went left but that's sailing - what would we talk about afterward otherwise. Anyway I fell asleep on the run and Orlando cunningly cut inside to take the lead which he held up the last beat and to the finish, with Tony slotting in behind me and ahead of Chris and Roger.

ILCA Spring Series at Queen Mary - photo © Simon Winkley

I think we all felt the boat handling needs sharpening and we need to get the head out of the boat in those conditions - there was so much happening around the race course and it seems to happen so quickly early in the season, so sorry if I have missed some elements. Word of praise though for Tony - 4 races on Sundays in very difficult conditions and he hasn't finished outside top 3 - he is fast on all points of sailing, no boat handling errors and not making major mistakes!! Well done, boss.

Spring Series Results after Day 2: (four races)

Podcast - An Hour With Flower - UKLA at ilca.uk/podcasts with Orlando Gledhill, Mark Lyttle & Tony Woods