It truly was champagne sailing conditions for the first BOD Mini Series of the season on Sunday 11 May with a lovely warm southerly 10-15 knots in sparkling sunshine.  Six BODs came to the line for the two races which were run by Jeremy and Barry Newman from the BSC start line.

The first race took the fleet through Gate and out to Number Eight for a really good long beat, followed by a run back to Gate and a nice tight reach up the Creek to finish.  On the start line the fleet was nicely packed with the exception of Storm Petrel who had mistimed their approach and started 30 metres behind the others.  Endeavour led out of the Creek and as they rounded Gate and came on the wind Storm Petrel was the first to tack inshore out of the tide, a move that enabled them to catch back up with the fleet and enjoy the excitement of close tacking down the St Osyth shore with Blue Peter, White Spirit and Bidi. Endeavour and Egret chose the Mersea shore and at Number Eight Endeavour led White Spirit by a boat length and a half, followed in by Bidi, then Egret, Storm Petrel and Blue Peter. On the run White Spirit had better speed and passed Endeavour, who had chosen a more inshore route which took them out of the stronger tide.  At the line the finish order was White Spirit first, Endeavour second, Bidi third, Egret fourth, Storm Petrel fifth, Blue Peter sixth.

Race two was another windward leeward from Gate, but this time the turning mark was Big Buoy.  An individual recall was signalled at the start and Blue Peter and White Spirit both recrossed the line. Endeavour once again led the fleet out of the creek, followed by Egret, Bidi, Storm Petrel, Blue Peter and White Spirit.  This time the entire fleet close tacked up the St Osyth shore with Egret rounding Big Buoy first followed by Bidi. Storm Petrel then tacked in and rounded just in front of Endeavour, but White Spirit, who had tacked in just below Storm Petrel, could not quite lay the mark because of the strong tide and was forced to swing round and make a second approach, coming back in just ahead of Blue Peter. The fleet then held it’s positions on the final run and reach to the finish putting Egret first, Bidi second, Storm Petrel third, Endeavour fourth, White Spirit fifth and Blue Peter sixth.

In the overall standings victory went to Danny Fox and the Egret team, Colin Willet and the crew of Bidi were second, David Conlon in Endeavour was third, Mark White in White Spirit fourth, Alan Hicks and Storm Petrel fifth and Graham Bridle sixth.

Coming up we have the second Thursday night series when John Paxman will be guest helming Grethe. Next weekend will see the start of the CYC BOD racing programme with the Eric Dent Cup which starts from Bateman’s Tower at 14.15 on Sunday 17 May and in which Chris and Gill Jordan will guest star in Grethe.  Welcome to the fleet John, Chris and Gill and good luck in your races.