Nigel Austin and Andrew Spencer in close proximity. Photo Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer
With 2 rounds of the Winter Series already completed it seems the year is drawing to a close at breakneck speed. So a short roundup of both events and some results seem to be in order.
3 D-Zeros travelled to Draycote in November for the Dash, class poster boy Tom Southwell, ever present Nigel Austin and class newcomer Andrew Spencer. The weekend promised an easterly wind which is never a good direction for Draycote Water. this meant it was variable in both strength and direction. Tom had a superb 5th in race 4 on the Saturday which put some distance between himself and the rest. he duly held it together on Sunday in slightly stronger conditions to take class honours and record 38th overall. Andrew came home 77th overall just pipping Nigel in 82nd out of the 103 boats that took to the water over the weekend.
Tom Southweell on his way to Class honours. Photo Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer
Moving on to the Datchet Flyer. With the wind gods promising a good blow it was with some trepidation that the sailors rigged on the Saturday morning. For this event 5 D-Zeros came to play with Seb Prowse and James Gerwat joining the 3 who had contested round 1. The forecast was definitely correct and even said to be on the conservative side.
Tom enjoying the breeze at the Flyer. Photo Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer
With class stalwart Nigel reporting the conditionals as ‘brutal’ the D-Zeros stuck t out despite the conditions and had fun despite a couple of people being ejected during the huge squalls. Unfortunately for Seb his day was cut short when he was ejected out the boat in a squall which caused some minor damage to his mast.
Sunday dawned and the conditions had moderated somewhat. Seb and James decided to call it a weekend after their adventures the previous day leaving Tom, Nigel and Andrew to battle it out for class honours. tom duly prevailed again posting a 15th in the double points pursuit race to take class honours and 31st overall with Andrew sneaking ahead of Nigel in the pursuit with them taking 40th and 41st overall with Andrew being a single point ahead of Nigel.
It never looks at windy in a photo… Photo Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer
So overall Tom is leading the series with 2 firsts, Andrew second with 2 seconds, Nigel 3rd with 2 thirds followed by James and Seb.
In the Selden Sailjuice.com Winter Series Tom Southwell is flying the class flag in 18th overall after 2 round. More details and full results for this series can be found by clicking here.
From here we move on to the Brass Monkey up at Yorkshire Dales on the 27th December where entry is currently full but they have a waiting list if you are wanting to go. This is followed by the Grafham Grand Prix on the 30th December where we are hoping for a decent turnout given the large home fleet that is there.
More information on the D-Zero Winter Series can be found by clicking here.
