Steve Nicholson weekend

* EDIT* Added link to Chunkypics website here...

6 Moths and one 600FF made up the foiler fleet at the Steve Nicholson race this weekend and were greeted by bright sunshine and a marginal 6-10 knots.

Race one was a battle to find the holes and avoid them as the gains and losses were huge. 4 boats all arrived at the windward mark at the same time and the battle was on to get foiling and keep there down the run. I used my Ninjapowers to pop up and make my way out right hoping to stay in the breeze which worked until near the bottom where I parked up with Geoff Carveth - leaving Mr Garyman and Alex Adams to sneak through. I pulled through by the leeward mark and then managed to sneak a bit of a lead which I kept to the finish with Alex in second and Gary third with the fleet quite spread out.
The second race was in a bit more breeze but still the occasional hole to find yourself in. I finally got my cobwebs blown away and figured out some tactics (if you want to tack, it helps to do it in breeze rather than a hole!) and stretched out to pull out a half lap lead after 4 laps with Alex again in second and Gary in third.

Overall results were:

1st Mike Cooke
2nd Alex Adams
3rd Gary Ireson
4th Martin Fear
5th James Phare
6th Geoff Carveth
7th George Hand (600)

George has traded in his 600 for Gary's Prowler and will be a welcome addition to the Moth fleet in the midlands which is starting to see a bit of growth with a couple of boats expected at Draycote.

We all hung around for a bit drinking tea and trying to get some feeling back in our feet (the lake was starting to freeze as we left!) before heading into Northampton for a curry and a few drinks followed by crashing out at Gary's.
Sunday dawned with plans for a bit of a coaching/video session but unfortunately the wind gods weren't playing that game so we resorted to some measuring and bimbling and some spreadsheet related nonsese.

I was pretty pleased to be honest, as I think I've sailed less than 10 times since the UK nationals and was expecting to be a bit ropey! I'm still foiling nice and early as is Alex in his NinjaMistress and it will be interesting to see how he gets on out in Dubai if it does turn out to be a light airs regatta that is expected...

Pics to follow hopefully!