Three races were completed in a light south westerly which unfortunately faded later in the afternoon.
The junior fleet had two Laser 4.7's - Nathan Page and Jonathan Rees, both practising for their national championships on Swartvlei next week. Page got a good start, but Rees was a bit late, so had to try to catch up. Page crossed the finish line first, well clear, but it was the Tera Sport of Danielle de Wet which was third over the line, winning this race on the basis of corrected time using the Portsmouth handicap system.
Page was second and Rees third. In the second race, it was much closer at the finish between Rees and Page, but Page was still ahead. On corrected time, race win went to the Optimist of James Vonk, with De Wet in second place. The third race was shortened due to the fading win. A puff at the end compressed the fleet, and Rees took the opportunity to cross the finish line ahead of Page. But once again, Vonk got the race win, with De Wet in second place. Overall in the series, Vonk is leading, one point ahead of De Wet, with Page in third place.
In the senior fleet, once again, the Fireball of David Laing and Mark Dee struggled in the light conditions to sail to their rating compared to the lighter Lasers. Whereas they were always able to finish ahead in the senior fleet, their winning margins were insufficient to be able to beat the leading Lasers. Malcolm Osborne was first Laser in all three races and won all three on handicap as well. In the third race, at times, Dave Jones and John Marc Olivier held the race lead in the Lasers, but Osborne managed to get a favourable lift at the end of the shortened race to cross the finishing line ahead, just behind the Fireball.
Osborne leads in the Millennium Trophy series, with Olivier in second place and the Laing/Dee Fireball in third. The final series for these trophies takes place on January 20.
The senior fleet setting of on one of the Millenium Trophy races.
