A good turnout of 25 Larks enjoyed superb conditions at Pevensey Bay SC for an open meeting on the 15-16 June.

Saturday provided a gradually dying 15 knot south-westerly, with a building ebb helping the fleet up the beats. The race officer laid a good P-shaped course which resulted in good close racing. In the first race, Richard Lympos and Matt Thomas came well off the line to be first at the windward mark. Dougal and Nigel Scott overhauled them on the first reach to go on to win. Lympos and Thomas fought a hard battle for second which they eventually won, with Simon Cox and Anna Hotchkiss in third.

In the second race, Matt White established a good lead at the first mark, and had the speed to hold off the fleet to the end. Second and third went to Richard Dowsett and Ruth Johnson, and to the Scotts respectively, both of whom had recovered from bad first beats by going low and stemming the tide on the first reach.

Pevensey laid on the traditional disco on Saturday night, so the relatively late 1100 start was a big relief for most. The breeze was in exactly the same position on Sunday but a few knots lighter, and the overcast skies cleared up to give brilliant sunshine by the last race. The tide was flooding all through the racing on Sunday, so the beats were long and the offwind very quick. Race three was a tussle for the first three places between Dowsett and Johnson, Emma Harris and Becky Priest, and the Scotts.

All three were closely matched through all three laps, with the lead changing a couple of times, but eventually they finished in that order. Matt White and Clare La Forge pulled off a superb port-tack, port-end start in race four, led at the windward mark and were not to be challenged for the rest of the race. The Scotts came through Harris and Priest, and Alan Krailing and Kerry Ryan on the last two reaches to take second, with Krailing and Ryan third.

Going into the last race, any one of the Scotts, Dowsett and Johnson, or White and La Forge could take the open. White and La Forge again performed a wonderful port-end start, accompanied by Jon Fish and Elinid Jones. Fish and Jones won out at the first mark, with White and La Forge second. The Scotts worked their way up initially to third, and then they overtook White and La Forge to be in second. However, as there were two discards, the Scotts needed either to win, or to take White and La Forge down to fifth to win the event. They tried to slow down White and La Forge, but were unsuccessful and so the event went to Matt White and Clare La Forge in an exciting finish.

Overall Results

1st Matt White and Clare La Forge – 4 points

2nd Dougal and Nigel Scott – 6 points

3rd Richard Dowsett and Ruth Jones – 9 points

4th Emma Harris and Becky Priest – 10 points

5th Simon Cox and Anna Hotchkiss – 13 points

6th Jon Fish and Elinid Jones – 14 points