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Club Championships

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Published 18:16 on 5 Oct 2020

Despite a dismal forecast and torrential morning rain, by the time the Championships were due to start, the weather had cleared. The problem now was too little rather than too much wind. Just enough breeze did come up however and there was a good turnout of 22 boats across the various classes. With three races on average lap times and all-to-count it was going to be a tense day. The aim was to sail 3 different courses, a windward/leeward, a triangle and a square.

The first leg was to a small red buoy set relatively close to the start line. With an all-in start downwind and against a strong spring tide, the chances of a fairly sizeable pile up at the first mark were strong! The tide running against the fleet did at least mean they got away cleanly, with Mark and Julie Tucker in their RS400 rounding first, closely followed by Nick Martin and Clare Darch also in a 400. The Tucker's lead was fairly short lived however as both the Nick and Clare combo and Steve and Sarah Cockerill passed them downwind. These three boats had a big lead but the wind died rather during the second lap and filled in from behind, bringing the rest of the fleet bearing down on them. The vagaries of average lap racing came into play when race officer Mark Robinson shortened the course mid-way through the second lap meaning that some boats continued to sail three laps whilst others in the same class were shortened after two. This caused some confusion with Fernando in his Aero thinking he had finished only to be told he hadn't, so he sailed on to post a creditable 6th place. As the wind continued to die this meant the third lap was actually slower and some of the 400 fleet who had been behind actually ended up beating boats that had been in front of them on the course! Good bar discussion points! In the end, the Cockerills won, with Caroline Martin in her Aero second place, just beating husband Nick, who tied on corrected time with Paul Reeve in his Laser and the Tuckers 5th.

The second race saw a little more breeze and, after a quickly advised course change which involved using the wing mark as the new windward mark, there was another very similar start with the Tuckers again winning the drag race to the first mark before the rest of the fleet arrived en-masse! With a little more breeze, the 400s were able to get away from the slower handicap boats although there was a good tussle between the RS600 of Andy Read and the leading 400s on the water. There was very close racing on the final run in the 400 fleet with the Cockerills taking another first, the Tuckers second just ahead of Neil Bevington and Alan Skeens and then Nick and Clare. Gordon was the first non 400 in his Phantom.

The tide had slackened considerably during the second race and by the start of the third race it was starting to run East under the fleet. The Cockerills executed a great spinnaker start only to find there was a general recall as virtually half the fleet were over the line. A re-start was set but on this occasion the race officers made a mistake and forgot to sound the 1 minute signal meaning the start sequence was abandoned. As Race Officer Mark said "you mucked up the first start, we mucked up the second one!". Third time lucky finally saw the fleet get away. The Tuckers could not quite make it three out of three first round the first mark as they were just pipped by Paul Mew in his Aero and there was some colourful language from the rest of the fleet. The square course proved tricky for the 400s as the second and fourth legs were both very tight for their spinnakers so many opted to two-sail the second leg. The wind just held on and the rain just held off, allowing the Cockerill's to post another win a very impressive clean sweep of 1st places, the Tuckers second and Nick and Clare again 3rd with Paul Reeve 4th.

Overall that meant Steve and Sarah were clear winners, Mark and Julie second and Nick and Clare third. A good day for the 400 fleet but Paul Reeve in 4th, Fernando in 6th and Caroline in 7th meant that the 400's did not have it all their own way.

Many thanks to all the volunteers, Mark Robinson and Paul Millard for manning the roof and Kim Clark and Jonty Yates for doing the RIB.

Thanks to Julie Tucker for writing this race report and Anne Hall for the photograph.

Last updated 12:07 on 26 February 2024

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