Force four for a final fling

The northeasterly were back for the last races in the freezer series with a good force 4 and moderate sea state. Steve Lee set a trapezoidal course with as beat out towards the Dolphin against wind and tide. The starts got away cleanly in both races with Brian and Maria (2000) showing their usual flair at the start line and proving uncatchable in both races.
There were 8 Lasers, of which 5 were Radials, 2 Standards and the 4.7 of Matt Bradfield who has become a force to be reckoned with picking a 3rd and 2nd this time out.
Laurie Dengate and Magda in the other 2000 were again very consistent gaining a 2nd and 3rd and ensuring them the Freezer series trophy.
The third leg was a glorious broad reach where we could plane all the way to the leeward mark by riding the waves often catching up with the wave ahead!.
There was a fair amount of places changing as boats would get up planing quicker than others or as some of us tried to beat the tide by going inshore on the beats instead of ploughing up the middle and meeting the tide sooner as it strengthened in the deeper water. Generally, playing the windshifts up the middle proved to be the better option.
We were pleased to see the Aero of Phil Rees out and John Sinclair in the Comet Zero. Also Luke and Doug in the RS 200 making good progress and finishing well up the order in the series results.
Karl gained his best ever finish in a Laser in the final race (5th) less than 30 seconds behind James and leading a tight group of Radials (Gary, me and Sally) with only 44 seconds between the four boats.
Olaf bagged a great 4th in the first race but a broken boom put paid to his chances in the second . Call Doctor McNeil!
The provisional results posted on the noticeboard on Sunday were corrected for the second race.
The provisional series results show Laurie, then Gary and 3rd James. Well done guys.The full results are on the website, but remember we have to tinker with the series data because of the alternate rigs rule that HAL can't cope with, that said it will not affect the top few places.


Apologies for the late posting - Ben