Another great Pwllheli Challenge racing weekend in Tremadog bay. The fleet could not believe the summer conditions that greeted them on Saturday - a beautiful warm sunny day, blue skies, glassy seas and visibility as far as the horizon. With such calm conditions the start was postponed for 10mins but the ripples on the water gave away the fact that the wind was quickly building and racing was soon underway.  All boats were crowded on the start and with tide against the fleet it took every effort to clear the line and keep the boat moving. Midnight Mojito on port, failed to maintain speed in the fickle winds and Jetstream had to tack to avoid a collision. Midnight Mojito failed to do their turns so were later forced to retire from that race. Meanwhile at the front of the fleet, Sgrech crossed the line well ahead of the rest of the fleet to take first place. Wil 2 Win took 2nd place and Injenious 3rd.

The second race had a little more wind – up to 7kts as opposed to just 3-4kts earlier in the day. However, with the additional strength came huge wind shifts of 180 degrees which caused tricky mark roundings and almost every boat approaching the finish was headed completely away from it. Sgrech took the line, quickly followed by Jetstream, Jeepster and Injenious which meant that the final placing was Injenious 1st, Jetstream 2nd and Sgrech 3rd.

Sunday was another glorious day with more glassy seas and blue skies. With the lack of wind, racing was postponed for nearly an hour. The lack of cloud meant it soon warmed up, most of the crew stripped down to shorts and the whole fleet enjoyed messing about on the water. Jetstream deposited two of their crew onto the Pwllheli Outfall buoy and after being circled by Jetstream a few times they were splashed by a bucket of water from Sgrech shortly followed by a large canister of water from Poppy, delivered at speed from the back of the fleet.

When racing finally got under way, it was in similar fickle conditions as Saturday. Jeepster were first up to the start line but due to the conditions were actually the last boat to cross it. The wind never really got above 4kts and by the time the fleet approached the finish it was clear that the wind was dying to nothing. Half the fleet struggled to round the last mark, again with huge wind shifts but also fighting the tide. By the time the fifth boat, Midnight Mojito, crossed the finish line the wind had died to 0.5kts, leaving the remaining boats to float across with just the tide to help them. The final result – Sgrech 1st, Wennol III 2nd and Jetstream 3rd.

The fleet waited for a return of wind for the second race but it was soon agreed that racing for the day should be abandoned and everyone should return to the sailing club to sit in the sun and discuss the weekends sailing.

Full results and overall positions so far are here….