5-6 March – Campeonato de Mallorca – Pollença
Thirteen brave crews turned out for the first day of the championships, with a cold blustery 15-18 knot wind from the east. The RCNPP Trofeo Optimist was to take place using the same start line, but they hadn’t yet left the harbour when we had our first start.
In the strongish breeze, many boats were overpowered and struggled up the first beat. The heavies had the advantage, but technique also played a factor, with Martini fighting it out with Puffin and Dragonfly. Heaven Sent had a good tussle with ffinally, although the latter wasn’t going at all – neither up or downwind. At the gun, Martini too first over Dragonfly – her best result, followed by Puffin. ffinally had to content themselves with a 5 behind Heaven Sent.
This clearly wasn’t working and given the strong wind they dialled in an extra stop of mast rake and matched it with rig tension. The wind was shifting right, and they got off the line a little late so they could tack and go out to that side. It paid off, and with the retuned rig they powered to first at the top, before blasting off downhill – the tweaks were working. At the bottom the rib signalled a course change, with the windward mark moving right. Going up the beat again Martini chased hard but couldn’t catch and finished second with Speedy Gonzales close behind. Ffuga took fourth – her best result of the series – whilst Puffin’s fifth was to prove to be her discard.
The wind had now settled with the right side still favoured. ffinally again went right, before coming back to the centre which the rest of the fleet had chosen. There they encountered Heaven Sent and Speedy Gonzales, who’d used the shifts to have a good battle. Down the run Speedy pushed hard, but ffinally stayed ahead all the way back up and down to the finish. Heaven Sent passed Speedy for second place with Puffin fourth; Martini only managing an eightth.
At the end of Saturday, ffinally was clear on 7 points, followed by Martini on 11, Puffin and Dragonfly 12 and Speedy 13.
Going into day 2, race 4 saw a little less wind, again from the east. Martini and Puffin got off well and had a great battle on the left side. Meanwhile ffinally and Heaven Sent were going at it in the middle with the latter keeping ahead all the way round, despite ffinally having great downwind speed. Martini took her second win ahead of Puffin.
The wind continued to shift left and the pin was favoured for the start of race 5. ffinally elected for a conservative start, sailing along the line as the seconds ticked down. Martini and Heaven Sent were trying for a pin end start when Dragonfly arrived from nowhere at speed. In the resulting mêlée there were a couple of contacts with much shouting. ffinally and Puffin came out upwind of this all and had a battle all the way to the top, with Puffin covering hard and not allowing ffinally any breathing space.
Following all the bouncing and bashing, Heaven Sent had been pushed off to the left, together with the other two. They gained from the shifts and came out well ahead at the top. Martini took the lead and finished first, with Heaven Sent behind.
The final race saw Martini, Puffin and ffinally off clear at the start, and all heading left. All were in with a chance for the series, Puffin needing to be well ahead of ffinally to do so. When Martini got a good shift and came out ahead, Puffin elected to try and push ffinally back, and covered them hard all the way up the beat. Try as they did, ffinally just couldn’t break free, and after some twenty tacks were third behind Puffin at the top.
Although positions closed on the run, they were unchanged at the bottom and the three set off on the final beat. Martini being ahead, it was another uncomfortable – but exciting – beat for ffinally, with Puffin sitting on them all the way.
But all was not over…
On coming ashore, we found that the committee had seen the race 5 bust up, noted that all three boats had pushed each other high and were OCS on the gun. This meant that both Martini and Heaven Sent had to discard the 14 points for OCS, and so carry an 8th position each.
So ffinally and Puffin each gained two positions in race 5, and only had a single 5 to discard. Each was now had 1,2,3 and 4 in their scores– except ffinally had two 1s and Puffin two 2s. After discards Martini had three 1s, a 2 but also an 8. So ffinally took the series, Puffin second and Martini third – with one point between each.
The Club hosted a super barbecue for us all, followed by prizegiving – thank you for great hospitality and a wonderful regatta!
| 1 | GBR 4014 | ffinally | John Walker / Stephen Babbage | 11 |
| 2 | GBR 3724 | Puffin | James Waugh / Michel Mesquita | 12 |
| 3 | GBR 3382 | Martini | Rafa Benitez / Pilar Caseres | 13 |
Up next:
5-7 May Palma Palma Vela
20-22 May Pollença Campeonato de Baleares
If you’re interested in a trial sail, just follow the link: http://tiny.cc/TrialaFlying15, we’d love to see you!
Our 2022 calendar is posted on our website http://flyingfifteen.mallorcaservice.de
Visit us on Facebook @f15spain.
By Stephen Babbage
