Small boat fleet, from the left (in boats): Emileigh (TMS Star Class), Cate and Anthony (Bandit 22 LTE), Vicky (Bandit 22 LTE), Niem (Bandit 22 LTE), Jackson (Bandit IF), ViV (Quest M-24), Jenna (TMS Nacra 17), Moon (TMS Nacra 17), Sea (Bandit 22 LTE), and Zimtzicke (Bandit 22 LTE).
On the Race Committee Boat: Cryptic. On the dock: Henry, Rayz, Kana, Flower, and Daenerys.
Calm seas, with a nice fleet turnout, highlighted this weeks North Sea Open Regatta. The North Sea regions were again generally well behaved as three DNFs (Did Not Finish) were recorded on the day. The first DNF, occurring during the small boat portion, was from a skipper pulling her boat after her navigation HUD ceased functioning. The second DNF, occurring during the big boat portion, was from another skipper pulling her boat after frustration from a misclick of her own mouse causing her boat to stop dead in its tracks. The final DNF, also occurring during the big boat portion, was from a skipper pulling her boat after a collision caused her boat to cross over region corners. The crowds that gathered at the lighthouses on the islands in the Ziziphus and Genip regions, and along the Poseidon Centre Spectator Pier and small race dock in the Eden Jakana region, savored a great display of fleet racing from this weeks skippers.
This weeks small boat fleet, sailing on the North Sea Trapezoid course, was made up of a majority of five Bandit 22 LTEs. Two The Mesh Shop (TMS) Nacra 17s, Two Bandit IFs, one TMS Star Class, and one Quest M-24 rounded out this weeks small boat fleet. Meanwhile, the big boat fleet, sailing on the North Sea Roundabout course, was made up of a small majority of three TMS I-Mocca 60s. Two WildWind Open 60s, one TMS One Design 65, one WildWind RC-44r, and one TMS Es Paradis rounded out this weeks big boat fleet.
Big boat fleet, from the left (in boats): Emileigh (WildWind RC-44r), Anthony and Cate (TMS I-Mocca 60), Vicky (TMS I-Mocca 60), Niem (TMS Es Paradis), ViV (TMS I-Mocca 60), Jenna (TMS One Design 65), Sea (WildWind Open 60), Zimtzicke (TMS I-Mocca 60), and Moon (WildWind Open 60).
On the Race Committee Boat: Cryptic. On the dock: Deanerys, Kady, Rayz, Henry, Red, and Jackson. On the pier: Mutsy.
Race Director: Cryptic
Assistant Race Director: Daenerys
Wind: SW (225°) 18kts
Note:
Did Not Finish (DNF) = number of finish +1
Did Not Start (DNS) = number of start +1
Today’s winner was Jenna (jnx1e Resident), with Sea (filax Carter) second, and Moon (moonglownight Resident) in third place. Congratulations to all of you. Thank you to everyone who came to sail and spectate and the SLCG for helping with race duties.
Race Notes:
Cate (Cate Sewell) and Anthony (AnthonyKingston Resident) registered as a team prior to the start of the race, therefore their points are accredited together.
Emileigh (Emileigh Starbrook) and Vicky (Vicky4698 Resident) both finished tied with 15 points. Rule A8.1 of Appendix A, Scoring, 2021 – 2024 World Sailing Racing Rules of Sailing is used to break this tie:
“If there is a series score tie between two or more boats, each boat’s race scores shall be listed in order of best to worst, and at the first point(s) where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favour of the boat(s) with the best score(s). No excluded scores shall be used.“
| Skipper | Best Finish | Next Best Finish |
| Emileigh Starbrook | 4 | 11 |
| Vicky4698 Resident | 6 | 9 |
With the race results rearranged in best to worst finish order, per A8.1, the tie breaks in Emileigh’s favor with having a fourth place finish over Vicky’s sixth place finish as her best.
North Sea Racing 
Something really strange happened to me in race 1: as we were on the final tack to take the start, my commands stopped answering leading me to believe I was crashing. My boat kept going but I couldn’t stir nor adjust sails and my line didn’t allow me to cross the start line. Yet, as I was about to pull the plug, the boat resumed responding and I could take the start, albeit much delayed. I had to circle around the pontoon in Eden Jakana since I recovered controls next to the Committee boat, on her wrong side. After that, the race went on without further trouble.
In race 2, I did not hit the corner, but my boat ended on the beach of Ziziphus island and I couldn’t restart her without editing her so I pulled out. Funny end (beached boat) to a frustrating race where I was consistently slowed down by other boats I couldn’t take over after being boxed in during pre-start. On a side note, I think I have never managed to finish that course. Cursed!
Thanks for hosting these exciting and always eventful races! Cheers and fair winds to all.
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