Day 1

Wet & windy...


All the competitors arrived to find a strong South/ South Easterly wind accompanying the steady rain falling on the 1st morning. We were greeted by the President of West Kirby SC who gave us all a warm welcome, Pete Stollery (PRO) ran through the do's and don'ts and we started the 1st of 5 seeding races promptly at 10.00am. The weather and building wind gave some un expected results in the seeding, with some of the top names not making the A fleet.


The incoming tide brought in even more wind, with all but the bravest changing down to their No 2 rig, although even they were forced to change down very quickly after seeing some spectacular wipeouts.


The race team did an excellent job of keeping the event moving quickly, with 5 races of 5 heats completed in the day. Skippers should also take credit, with protests kept to a minimum, with only two heard during the day, neither of which held the racing up.


Although the wind dropped slightly it was only in the last hour of the day that all skippers went back onto their A rigs.


At the end of the day most skippers retired to the club bar to chat and discuss the days events.


The racing looks like being even hotter tomorrow with the top guys slotting in the A heat, and those pushed down the fleet looking to climb back up, something, given the quality of the racers that is going to be very hard.


Forecast is for a nice day with 21 mph winds.... Bring it on.


The 1st days provisional results will be posted soon, when everyone retires from the bar!


(Post rewritten Sun AM, after a re read! I only had a couple of pints honest!)