18 July – fuego series day 2 – Pollença

Going into the second regatta day, Wight Flyer was in a dominant position with 4 wins from 4 races, with fuego fatuo counting 4 seconds. All four boats from day one were there, and Martini, Speedy Gonzales, Flying Uschi, ESP and ffugue came to join the fun, giving us 9 boats in total.

We set up the diamond for the forecast northerly breeze. However, as we came to the start, it was already shifting east. By mutual agreement, we decided to stick with the course and start line, as “there’ll be a beat in there somewhere”.

So the first race, a port around triangle, started on a close fetch. Martini and fuego battled it out for the first mark, with fuego holding the lead, only to be passed after the wing mark by Martini and Speedy.

For race 2 we sailed the wiggly course, which made the leg between the two “wing” marks the beat. Martini lead all the way round, with fuego nipping at their heels, followed by Wight Flyer and Speedy. The series was now getting exciting, as with the compulsory discard of best position kicking in after five races, fuego were now on 11 with Wight Flyer on 10.

Race 3 was the starboard triangle, which meant another fast reach to the first mark, followed by a true beat to the “wing”. The next leg was a good reach, with fuego passing Speedy and keeping ahead of Wight Flyer to clinch a second – again to Martini. Fuego now lead Wight Flyer 13 to 14

The fourth race was the longer wiggly course, which would normally have seen an additional beat and run added to the wiggly course. Martini started well and were with fuego and Speedy at the first mark. After a lot of close racing, Speedy was leading on the reach to the final mark, but mistakenly rounded to port, didn’t correct and were disqualified. This gave fuego first, Wight Flyer second and Dragonfly third.

For the final race of the series, we sailed the signature wiggly course, with a very fast reach for leg one. The fleet were close together coming to the bottom mark, with Speedy and Wight Flyer well out to the left, fuego ahead of Dragonfly and martini on the right. At the mark, the first two made noisy contact, and fuego slipped ahead on the inside to take and hold first place to the finish, followed by Dragonfly. Speedy recovered to third, whilst Wight Flyer retired.

So fuego won the day on 9 points, Martini second on 11, then Dragonfly 20, Speedy 22 and Wight Flyer 23. Having sailed nine races, the only series discard was the compulsory dropping of best position.

After doing the arithmetic, fuego won the series for the second year, followed by Wight Flyer and Dragonfly.

1 August – not the Scandy Cup – Pollença

Another Covid-19 impact – Scott and Andy couldn’t travel to Mallorca, which meant no Scandy Cup this year. So instead, we built a new coastal race with two mile up and downs.

Just like the previous race day, we set up for the forecast easterly wind; but just before the start it moved north. We agreed not to change the course, which gave us a race with light winds on the beam and many shifts, holes and private gusts.

Steve and Philip in Wight Flyer found the best way through these complicated conditions and won. In fuego fatuo, John was sailing on his own, and finished a good second, with Francisco and Ximena in ffuga were very happy with their third place. (they’ve renamed ffugue and registered as CHI 3598.) In the light airs and 30°C+ conditions, John had exhausted all his fluids, and elected not to sail race two.

This race did provide the predicted easterly wind and the remaining six boats had a good and exciting battle all the way round. Dragonfly, sailed by Michael and Karin reached the windward mark ahead and set off downwind to the finish.

Nevertheless, Steve and Philip in Wight Flyer again took first, followed by John and Diego in Spanish Fly and whilst Dragonfly had to settle for third as they took the wrong way downhill.

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By Stephen Babbage