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Medway Dragon fleet enjoy race three of the Proton Cup

Five boats entered the third installment of the MYC Proton Cup series; Taniwha, Suti, OCD, Gandalf and Whistle.  There was a nice breeze for the Dragons and Edwin chose course 24. This would take us all the way to Buoy 12 with an up-river start.

At the 5-minute gun we noticed OCD still on their mooring, messing around with spinnakers.  With barely a second to spare before the 4-minute gun, they cast off and were adrift with no sails. Whistle and Suti were in good wind opting for a start on the South shore but the wind changed giving the advantage to the boats in the middle of the river. This was namely Taniwaha, OCD and Gandalf making the windward mark way before Whistle and lastly Suti.

Closing on the leaders

All the way down to buoy 12 saw Taniwha keep a healthy lead followed by OCD and GandalfWhistle sailed really well eating into their lead down Long Reach with Suti making steady progress.  Adjacent to buoy 16 Taniwha had an issue with their spinnaker dropping them out of the lead. Whistle caught OCD which saw them tussle for the lead to get around Buoy 12 first, followed by GandalfSuti had a good leg and with Taniwaha sorting out their Spinnaker found themselves rounding the mark at the same time.

Homeward bound

All really close now going around Buoy 16 on the way home.  Whistle, Suti and Taniwha opted to round the mark and head towards the North shore, with OCD and Gandalf keeping to the South shore out of the tide along Long Reach.  It soon became apparent the South Shore was the best option cutting across the tide near Buoy 22 on the way to our next mark.  OCD took a commanding lead with Whistle staying ahead of Gandalf who were 150m ahead of Suti with Taniwha close behind.  Just Buoy 26 and the MCC self-finishing line to go.  There was no catching OCD, but Suti managed to overhaul Gandalf.

Congratulation to 1st OCD, 2nd Whistle , 3rd Suti, 4th Gandalf and 5th an unlucky Taniwha.

The first series is really open with only two races to go.  Looking forward to next week and possibly bubbles for fours weeks in a row!

  • Trevor Cox, Suti

Reminder

13th May          Morning sailing for new and current members 

15-22 May        Gandalf travels to Derby Dragon, La Baule, France

20th May         1st Windward/Leeward race day, down river committee boat and early start

24th May         Evening sail racing commences

26-29th May         Medway Regatta