RECORD BREAKING
The news the following day was good and bad; the boys had not done it. They were almost two knots away, with the Belgian Bomber, Patrick van Hoof, leading the charge on his 2018 Fanatic / North kit at 36.52 knots. Martin Carter on his kite speed board was just ahead at 37.04 knots. Zara Davis had much better news for the girls, breaking the long standing women’s harbour record set by herself in 2008 by almost half a knot. Zara said “So happy to achieve this especially as it was on my new Simmer Speed Demon 43 which Faz the Simmer Importer brought down for me the day before and straight out of the box it gives me the new record, I don’t know what the boys were playing at though!” The next few days had good winds but nowhere near as strong. But could the men’s record still fall? The event was due to close on Friday evening but a Storm called Brian was on its way on Saturday…… could it arrive a bit early and give a second bite of the cherry?
This time the race officer was taking no chances, on Friday he called the skippers meeting at 8.30 in the morning and first possible start 9:00 as the wind was coming but was forecast to drop by lunchtime and so was the tide. The prediction was spot on and at 9:00 it was howling and from a better direction, westerly with a bit of north in it. Which meant a starboard broad course on a high tide – perfect! Bang on 9:00 all the usual suspects were on the water, all trying various speed kit and as large a sail as they could hold. The morning wore on and the wind was easing minute by minute.