Report by Martyn Lewis

Photo © Karen Hiles

Warm sunshine greeted the 12 Tera sailors to Draycote Water on the 17^th / 18^th April. The forecast was for light winds over the weekend but despite the lack of breeze the intrepid Tera’s ventured out after lunch for 2 back to back races. Sun block, hats and fluid were the main priorities for the day. The start of the first race was very competitive with tricky conditions for all. Crispin showed great boat speed and disappeared into the distance on the first triangle with the 2 Pro sailors Flynn and Joshua, but found a calm patch at the leeward mark allowing the fleet to close the gap. Tom Elliot Jamie and Anya sailed a great second beat with Anya leading at the windward mark but decided to take a penalty turn allowing Crispin back through to take the win with Tom 2^nd and Anya 3rd. The rest of the fleet were swapping places frequently with plenty of banter between them presumably about what ice cream they would be having on return to the beach!

 Race 2 saw a similar pattern with close racing on the first beat between all the fleet. William showed great boat speed downwind using the reverse flow technique to his advantage, I’m sure the visiting Tera Squad Coach was impressed! Will Joe and Elliot exchanged places on the beat as the wind shifted to and fro. Despite the light conditions Rebecca took advantage of some fresh breeze on the last triangle to take Anya on the penultimate reach. So places at the end of race 2 were Crispin Rebecca Anya.

 Sunday greeted the Tera sailors with even less wind! Time for chilling out with ice cream and maybe a little boat maintenance for the parents. After a lengthy postponement and some feedback from the fleet, the race team decided to go for it. Two races back to back with the Tera sailors showing great skill in getting their boats to move in the very light airs. Crispin turned on his secret outboard motor and won both races taking the event. The competition for the remaining places was hotly contended with close racing for 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th places, Anya taking 2^nd and William 3rd. Credit due to Ruby whilst not finding the conditions easy finished all the races, a quality to be admired. In the Pro fleet Joshua gave the lead away in race 4 thinking it was the finish, they were tied on points but this mistake gave the overall win to Flynn (lesson learned the hard way)!

 A big thank you to Draycote Water and all involved in the event and of course to the Tera Sailors for taking part.

 Pro-Fleet Results

 Sport Fleet Results