Marlborough Sounds Marinas Spring Twilight Race 9

Light conditions brought a whole new dimension to the racing in round 9 of the Marlborough Sounds Marinas Spring Twilight Series this week. With podium places and divisional titles still up for grabs the fleet were made to exercise their light airs skills (including reading the notoriously fickle sounds breeze) to make the best of the evening.

Division 3 delivered a tight race with the entire division finishing within 4 minutes, Byce Eklein’s Young 88 End Game taking the win ahead of Bandit with Our Girl in third.

In Division 2 Matt Michel’s well performed Ross 830 Bump n’ Grind  took the line and handicap double by a huge margin ahead of Rapport with Raconteur Richard Coon’s Hanse in third on line. Handicap results went the way of Cheeky for second, Jan Eveleens rapidly coming to terms with the slippery little Farr 727 while club stalwart Bill Crossen made a return to the podium helming Sequin to third.

Division 1 saw the breaking of what looked like a run that was destined to continue forever as Honk n’ Jack  Ian Gardiner’s Thompson sport boat took line and handicap honours, ending the reign of Satellite Spy with a four second margin on the line. Third on line and second on handicap, Bluebird continues to show why she’s a boat to be feared in all conditions while Clive Ballett’s Farr 1020 Coup D’Etat took third on handicap.

With eight races of the series completed boats are able to drop their worst performance, in Division 1 this sees Global on 18 points ahead of Khamsin on 24 with Flying Fox on 29 and Bluebird on 31. The situation with one further race in the series to sail has many potential outcomes as boats get to drop their second worst result once nine races are complete.

Division 2 is still dominated by Settimio on 16 but it’s anyone’s guess as to the final placings with Freaky on 36, Sequin and Bump n’ Grind both on 39, Raconteur on 40 and Cheeky on 44. In Division 3 the top three are reasonably clear cut with Ian Michel’s Playwright leading on 27 from Free Rein on 31 and Acamar on 36.

The closeness of the racing is well illustrated by the fact that, across the eight races to date, Division 1 has had seven different winners while Divisions 2 and 3 have six different winners across the eight races. No boat in any division has more than two wins to its name while Playwright in Division 3 has built a lead on the back of consistent performances without a single win in the series. The final race (next Tuesday) is shaping up to be a cracker.