Two contrasting weekends of sailing have produced some interesting results for the Pwllheli challenge series...

The highlight of the second weekend’s sailing in the Pwllheli Challenge Series was the North Sails coaching weekend lead by Frank Gerber and Mike Henning. A weekend of windward – leeward racing with committee boat starts, and North Sails encouragement from on the water. A fleet of 10 boats turned up to the start line in glorious weather. It was only the wind that wasn’t playing, and in the end only three of the scheduled four races were possible.

After the early success of Mojito, who took two firsts and a second in week one, they struggled in the light winds, achieving nothing higher than 7^th place, despite plenty of encouragement from the North Sails team. Jetstream, made full use of their larger headsail, found their groove and capitalised on Mojito’s demise. Managing two firsts on top of their 9 points from the previous weekend, they took the lead in the series and gained considerable praise from the North Sails team.

Stratisfear managed a second and joint third, with Wil2Win, on the first day and were given some useful pointers in the debriefing in the Club room after racing.  On Sunday Stratisfear having learnt from the briefing achieved a comfortable first followed by Jeepster who also gained from the advice provided. Jackknife were third followed closely by Wombat.

Everyone agreed that the North Sails training had been very well delivered and a useful eye-opener to strategies, trimming and crew management. And the prizes of North Sails books, T-shirts and bags were a great incentive to improve.

From no wind, to lots of wind. The third weekend certainly had enough for everyone and for some crews, it was too much! The weekend started with 7 boats out in average winds of around 22kts gusting 32kts and a choppy sea in the shallow waters of the bay. Mojito were ready to go early but managed to park on the start line, watching everyone but Jeepster sail past them. Despite this, their up wind leg was impressive and they had already gained a huge amount of ground by the second mark with only Stratisfear and Jackknife in front. The big debate – to hoist the kite or not? Stratisfear were the first to hoist with Mojito behind with pole out and kite on the deck, but everyone waited to see how Stratisfear fared in the conditions. Stratisfear broached and there was some reticence from the boats behind. With everyone else on white sails, Mojito backed off from their hoist and settled for a goose wing across the bay to overtake Stratisfear and Jackknife. Mojito took first place on the line and on corrected. Although Stratisfear recovered well they couldn’t gain enough ground to make up the places. Jetstream took second place and Sgrech third.

The second race was very similar to the first with Mojito again parking on the start line. This time everyone else managed a better start, which left Mojito with a lot of work to do to catch the fleet. Again they managed it with Stratisfear, Jackknife and Jetstream to contend with. After the second lap they were just holding Jetstream at bay but were over two minutes behind Stratisfear. Could they hold Jetstream off till the finish? Could they keep close enough to Stratisfear to get the points? Just! On corrected Mojito won, Stratisfear second and Jetstream third and with some very close sailing they were followed by Jeepster and Sgrech just seconds behind.

Sunday was too much for some with wind speeds no less than 25kts in the marina and gusting to 37kts out in the bay, the skippers decision to race was down to whether they had experienced crew, enough reef points and small enough head sails. The seas were lively to say the least, with everyone onboard taking a wave or two. Five boats went out but only four started. Jetstream were determined to win and managed to take the lead from Mojito upwind, which Mojito failed to gain back before the finish. Jackknife finished in third place on the water but had to settle for fourth with Satisfaction, who were in their element, taking third on corrected. After a quick check with the fleet, it was decided that a second short race would be run in order to achieve the scheduled four races. Jackknife retired after problems with their main leaving Jetstream, Mojito and Satisfaction to take the points in that order after some very close racing.

Jetstream still lead the table but the gap is closing, with both Mojito and Stratisfear waiting to take it from them. The points table is all still very open for the last weekend’s racing on the 8^th and 9^th November, which should make it an exciting finish!

Well done to everyone that braved the elements this weekend!

(Photo by Charlie Hazelwood)

The latest results are available here

Jetstream are in pole position with an impressive four firsts one equal first, two seconds and three third places in the eleven races so far - only four races left on 8th and 9th November.