THE first race of the offshore Sigma Series took place at the weekend.
Ten boats turned up for the briefing but unfortunately only five made it to the start line. This was due to the series of line squalls that frequently swept through the sailing area resulting in varying wind speeds of 15 to 40 knots.
The five die-hards that made it to the start; Container World, Zap, Sticky Figures, Sundance and Majimoto had an enjoyable sail.
The Race Officer, Kevin Rainier, set a long triangular course starting off North Beach, beating to a mark off Vetch’s, reaching out to the channel mark, running in to a mark off Virginia and then beating back to North Beach.
Sticky fingers got off the start line first and handled the variation in wind speed better than most as she was first to the windward mark by a long distance.
Majimoto managed to find herself on the inside of the shark nets after the start and unfortunately took some time to extricate herself so she brought up the rear of the fleet heading into the second leg.
Positions remained reasonably constant for the second leg out to the channel mark, Sticky Fingers, Zap, Sundance, Container Wold and then Majimoto.
On rounding the channel mark, the swells came into play more. Sticky Fingers hoisted a bag and held it well for the entire leg. All other boats stayed with main and foresail combination.
At the Virginia mark, Sticky Fingers was about half a leg ahead but the remainder of the fleet had bunched up a bit and Majimoto had managed to catch up.
The final beat was highly tactical with playing the inshore headers and lifts paying dividends. Final finishing positions were; Sticky Fingers, Majimoto, Zap, Container World, Sundance.
On Corrected time the results were;
Division A1
1 Sticky Fingers
Division A2/B
1 Zap
2 Container World
3 Majimoto
4 Sundance
Sticky Fingers also won overall on corrected time.
RNYC will be hosting the next race in the series on 27 October.
