RS end of season at Datchet

On the 8th and 9th of November 2014, Louis and I competed in the RS EOS at Datchet water reservoir.

On the first day the wind was gusty and was ranging from about 14 knots to 25 at the highest gust and as all 110 boats launched a dull rain settled in. We were sailing a trapezoid course with no gates and a reach to the finish that the race officer had made very short , probably due to the other classes on the reservoir. Often it paid to not hoist the spinnaker . In these conditions there was very short chop that I had never experienced before because I had never sailed on a reservoir in high winds before and soon learned that it created lots of spray. The first race went well for us and we concluded it with a good 7th, in the next race we came 8th and at the end of a very tiring day we got a 14th in the fleet of 42.

On the start of the second day the wind had dropped off to almost nothing and the start had to be postponed an hour to let the wind fill in as forecast. A mean of 5 knots duly arrived but on the water it was patchy and full of holes, a massive change from yesterday, causing a complete change of tactics for everybody on the course. On the first race we got a 15th which was due to the pressure differences throughout the course. Then on the second race we stepped up our game and came home with an 8th which meant we came 7th overall.

All in all a very successful regatta and a great experience in the high winds.

Louis Wright

Jamie Allen

Feva 4963