James Dinsmore reports from a ‘bonus’ round of local Poole Slalom…
In view of the recent dearth of wind we called a ‘State of Emergency’ and this afternoon held a one-off Sunday Poole Slalom event. The forecast came good and, for what was the second PS event of the year, we were blessed with a consistent 14-15 knot WSW at Baiter Park. To my surprise there wasn’t even any rain and at one point Andy Summerfield complained he was ‘boiling’ in his winter wetsuit!
In the one-and-a-half hour session we completed 5 figure-of-eight slalom races and 3 long distance masterblasters. The racing was fiercely fought on a range of gear with sails from 7.0 to 9.5m. Alex Hensher was a stand-out sailor and always near the front of the pack with Fred Willis.
It’s been well over a year since I was last involved with Poole Slalom so it was great to see the progress made by sailors like Dan Hornan, who showed excellent board speed, and also to meet new faces Anthony Todd and Simon Pizzey.
‘Wipeout of the day’ by a long way went to Andy Summerfield who was trying to adjust his outhaul at the moment he came upon the not inconsiderable wake of a 60 foot motor cruiser. His multi-tasking skills were not up to it and he ended up being projected through a panel of his rather nice North race sail.
Bring on some more wind!
See you next time.
James Dinsmore
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