South West Cup Report

Day One - Friday

SW light winds

Friday began with the wonderful anticipation of a four day bonanza of Course Racing, Slalom and Freewave.

The signing on, meeting up with friends, and rigging and tweaking new equipment makes the first event of the season very special. Some racers were honed to perfection having raced all winter. Others were just shrugging off the coat of deep hibernation and struggling onto the beach!!

Despite the unbending will of all racers the wind only managed to reach the bare minimum for Course Racing. Raceboard and Formula were called out, but it was the Raceboard Fleet that actually made the start line.The Formula Fleet, sadly, returned to the beach, dissatisfied and chomping at the bit!!

Out on the water the race crew banged out three races in light winds.

Eventually the wind died and the last race was shortened to avoid the long hack back to the beach.
There was always tomorrow!!!

Day Two Saturday

NE lightwinds

Easter Saturday dawned with an unhealthy looking mist which cleared to give an unhealthy looking low cloud.
There seemed little hope of wind despite the focused yearnings of race officials and competitors.

To alleviate beach grumblings Race Officer Jay Williamson ran a Junior Race Fleet in very light conditions. This kept the youngsters happy and burnt off a bit of excess energy!! It was questionable whether the older generation Raceboard Fleet actually appreciated being given an outing but they got one anyway, with a long slowburn finish!!!

So on Easter Saturday the Raceboards were the only fleets to get any racing.

Day Three Sunday

No Wind!! So everyone had a relaxed start to the day -time enough to enjoy the Easter eggs.

After lunch signs that the wind was building -and all fleets were called out. This signal caught out some of the sailors -those who had decided on a visit to St Michaels Mount (no names mentioned -but senior FW sailors , including a raiding party from north of the border, were amongst the tourist party to get a spectacular, elevated view of start line !)

Raceboard fleets managed further races untroubled -however, 3 unsuccessful formula starts saw the fleet sent ashore before a final, and thankfully successful attempt, to secure an event late in the day.

Gallantry Award of the day (and a Sola wetsuit of his choice ) goes to Chris Lewis (366) for sacrificing his race to go to the assistance of a very cold Techno sailor. A timely reminder of Racing Rule 1.1 (Fundamental Rules) -"Helping those in Danger".

FINAL DAY - Wow !

What a way to finish! A beautiful day -sun and wind - and lots of racing for all fleets; both course racing and slalom. (Results for Slalom and Course.)

The results speak for themselves - and a first for UKWA - the biggest entry ever for a slalom event.
Well done to the race team; and thanks to all the competitors.