Yaverland Race Report by 1907
A slow start. Not much wind today. I am towards the back of the pack.
We are just drifting about.
This has got me feeling that this could be a looooong race.
Most of the fleet has gone in near the coast hunting for wind.
What to do?
The tide is with us so I am going to stay out in the deep water.
Slowly my boat inches through the pack towards midfleet respectability.
Now all the fleet have gone in by the coast. I am all alone here out in the deep.
How I would love some wind out here!
Fifteenth, fourteenth.
Poco a poco. Little by little.
And then the wind came!!
Thirteenth, twelfth, eleventh, tenth, ninth.
No doubt about it, my boat is the fastest on the water
Eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth.
The leading group of five break away from the peloton, tearing past Sandown pier.
There are some tricky sailors in the group.
But there are all hugging the coast.
And there's more wind out here.
And there's more tide out here.
Fourth, third, second.
Yaverland mark is no longer a fuzzy dot in the distance.
It is coming into clear view.
A tidy turn here and a podium finish is possibility.
And what's this?
Why is the safety boat in such a hurry?
I can't see that anyone has capsized especially not at the head of the fleet.
They are coming this way.
"What do you mean, abandoned?" I hear myself say or words to that effect.
Shanklin SC has a strict thirty five minute rule and if no marks have been rounded in that time
the race is abandoned. Just a few minutes more. Just a few minutes more.
Still it was a cracking sail and as the local fishermen would say, it was one that got away.
