6 teams took to the water in IODs early on Saturday - teams Sadiiqi (last minute weight loss got them in), Siren, and Erin (with a little bit of Gripper thrown in - Grerin?) represented the J24 fleet, and Alec Cutler, Blythe Walker and Paula Lewin rounded out the hopefuls qualifying for Gold Cup. Winds S at 12-18 and blue blue skies - perfect conditions for IODs.
The first part of the day was spent in round robin. I can only comment from the Sadiiqi boat - we were on ‘Shadow”, which coincidentally is all black. It did however differ from Sadiiqi in a few other respects though - long, very heavy, no cooler and of course where did they leave the backstay (down below in the cabin on this one!). The boat had a tall deck and low boom - was like being on a laser when tacking. We got the bits put on - this IOD seemed to work ok and not have too many funky bits, sharp bits, broken bits or that IOD speciality funky sharp broken bits.
Race 1 was against Mike and the Grerins - it was a good tactical prestart - Mike fought for the boat end with Sadiiqi pushing. Mike was luffed alongside the committee boat and after the start Sadiiqi edged ahead , tacked across, and protected the right side. After that it was a close two laps but Sadiiqi took the gun. The Sadiiqi - Siren match had John doing some funky moves in the prestart, baffling his own crew as well as us. After the gun he worked the left side of the course to great effect, and got the gun after a gybe fest down to the finish. Mike beat John in their match. Sadiiqi’s other highlights were holding Paula out in the prestart for a penalty - she managed to extend enough to take it; having a 3 minute luff with Alec C; and with Blythe having a call and red flag go against us… sigh - but that’s match racing. So with Mike, Pete and John all on 1-5 there was an ajudication that John was 4th, except he wasn’t there, so Mike now was 4th. So Mike went into the semis where he was up against Blythe. Mike lost that one and went up against Paula for the plate final.
I now hand over to Grerin to relay their thrilling match with Paula, as we had retired to the bar by then to cool off.
