Miracle Open at Port Dinorwic Sailing Club

Port Dinorwic Miracle Open © PDSC

On the 5th and 6th June Port Dinorwic Sailing Club hosted their annual Miracle Open alongside their club Faenol Cup event. The fleet was made up of four home boats and four visiting boats, two of which were sailing new boats which looked very smart!

Saturday afternoon provided a breezy South Westerly wind with the incoming tide; the boats had to time when to leave the less tidal water amongst the boat moorings to make a dash across the Menai Strait to the windward mark on the other side. Home boat Cathy and Mitchell were the first to go for it, closely followed by Ian and Lily. David and Zara led the rest of the fleet further up through the moorings before making a break for it, which seemed to pay off as they just pipped Cathy and Ian to the windward mark. 3 good spinnaker reaches followed before returning to the beat back up through the moorings. David managed to keep his lead to finish in first place, followed by Wayne and Angela who had made their way up through the fleet, then Graham and Helen. After a promising finish of 4th in the first race Ian was forced to retire for the second as he managed to break his centre board in half!

Port Dinorwic Miracle Open - photo © PDSC

The second race was a closely fought affair between Wayne and David which made the race very exciting for the spectators - or so we were told when we got off the water - during which Louis Moulden kept the PDSC members entertained with a running commentary of the action. Wayne made it round the windward mark first, but a lucky puff (or Zara's new smiley spinnaker design) down the first reach allowed David to take the lead for the following spinnaker legs. Wayne wasn't deterred though and managed to pick up the lead again on the second beat by crossing to the other side of the Strait first. He managed to keep this lead for the following reaches until the last beat, when the now familiar tacking duel (I'm sure there must be at least one tense tacking battle between these 2 boats at every open...) commenced between the two boats. David managed to edge ahead by keeping out of the tide staying closest to the shore and so took the win for the second race. Meanwhile home boat Ffion and Leah were putting their half term training into practice and managed to bag a third. A special shout out should go to Kim who was crewing for Amy - this was her first ever sail and she loved it!

Port Dinorwic Miracle Open - photo © PDSC

Sunday dawned with glassy waters and sunny skies. Fortunately a light North Easterly wind filled in to allow the boats to race, and was just strong enough to allow the OOD to place a mark on the other side of the Strait to form a triangle course, with only a minor risk of the boats being swept out to Caernarfon! Due to the light winds and strong tide the first beat entailed lots of short tacks up the harbour wall. Cathy had a brilliant start and led the fleet up the beat to the first mark. Once round with the spinnaker up and tide beneath her she managed to pull away from the rest of the fleet. David managed to close the gap through the race, to the extent of which he managed to cross the finish line barely a boat length ahead of Cathy when she wasn't looking!

Port Dinorwic Miracle Open - photo © PDSC

Wayne led the way to the windward mark in the final race, followed by fellow Delph sailor Ian. It was after the spinnaker legs that Ian unfortunately had his second boat malfunction of the weekend when his spinnaker chute split causing them to fall behind the rest of the fleet. Let's hope he can repair his boat in time for the Nationals in August! Wayne managed to pull ahead of the rest of the fleet and hold his lead until the end, followed in by David then Graham.

Thanks go to Cathy for organising the event and Port Dinorwic for their hospitality over the weekend - a great place to sail and a well deserved winner of the RYA and Y&Y Club of the Year 2021!

Overall Results:

Port Dinorwic Miracle Open - photo © PDSC