ACT FIVE
EXTREME FOOTY 2015
Abington Park Model Yacht Club

They came from afar for the second round in the East Midlands at Abington Park, with visiting skippers from Frensham Pond, Cotswold, two not so local skippers who belong to Abington Park from Spalding & Derby respectively and one escapee who even managed to make it over the invisible wall that seems to have been recently built around Birmingham!

The short legged course on Abington Park was a beat to start, through a short start gate to an upwind mark followed by a spreader mark intended to make the first rounding easier, although as it turned out it proved to be a really tricky short leg.
A run down to a gate with left and right  choices, where with the wind shifting it was best to leave your mark choice  to the last moment.
Back on the beat to the first mark, downwind to the gate then back upwind this time straight to the second mark, once more to the gate and a final leg close to the shore to finish between the shore and a mark close in.

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In the morning session Peter Jackson (30, Fat Boy Slim) and Mike Ewart (36, Ice) traded places, with PJ being just ahead at the break. Peter Shepherd (65, Fat Boy) started brightly enough however he was sailing around a problem with sheeting on his boat which by lunch time had cost him dearly and some major surgery was undertaken. After lunch he joined the battle and had some most enjoyable tactical races against Mike. In the end, despite his best efforts he was just unable to overtake PJ's score which faded in the afternoon sunshine. 
These three closed out all of the race wins, although that might lead you to think they ran away with the event this wasn't the case, as evidenced in the slideshow pictures where all of the fleet is on close contention.

David Wilkinson (46, Iambus) was back to more like his usual form finishing fourth, Tom Steel (158, Fat Boy Slim) continued where he left off in the last event, although the conditions were trickier here, and along with Paul Risdale (53, Wice) these were the mid fleet champions, with Paul being bestowed with the Above and Beyond Award mainly for not accompanying his Footy sailing with the usual expletive mutterings!

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Keith Parrott (31, Ice) visiting from Frensham Pond, wasn't too far adrift from this mid fleet group, with Trevor Thomas (58, Slim) and over the wall Sid Sims (05, ICE) had a private points battle at the back.
The tight nature of the course meant that everyone was engaged throughout the event and there were a enough blanket finishes to keep everyone on their toes. Once again the competetive but friendly nature of the racing made this a most enjoyable event.

The closeness of the fleet and the good nature with which the racing was undertaken led to another hugely enjoyable event.

The next Footy event is once again at Abington Park the Bassett Lowke Trophy 20th June 2015 and the we are also back at Abington park for the next Extreme Footy Series Race 4th July 2015.

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Paul Risdale is this Act's Extreme Footy Above & Beyond Award Winner

Back on top for Act 5 Winner Mike Ewart recieves his prize from (none to happy) Peter Shepherd.