Southwold Sailing Club Spring Series - Week 4

Two races in Walberswick Bight on week 4 of the Southwold Sailing Club Spring Series © Jeremy Taylor

Week 4 of the Southwold Spring Series took place on Sunday with 2 races held on an Olympic Course in Walberswick Bight.

The forecast was for the moderate Easterly breeze to freshen as the day progressed and swing to the South West, bring with it considerable rainfall. So both race officer and competitors were keen to get started before the conditions worsened. So keen in fact that the first race saw a rare general recall for the fleet and a second start sequence was quickly underway. Second time around the fleet got away cleanly and there were good starts at the pin end of the line from the 5o5’s of Greg Brown and Ollie Boyes and Hugh Feilden and Richard Symes. The strong ebb tide meant the right hand side of the course was favoured and soon the whole fleet was sailing out to the starboard layline before tacking for the windward mark. Brown/Boyes were first around followed by Feilden/Symes and Geoff Brown and Pete Norval in their Javelin. Just behind these there was confusion as Dirk Bougard and Mike Gower missed the layline and were swept back past the buoy allowing tailors phantom through to 4th.

Down the reach the 5o5’s stretched away from the rest of the fleet, with a battle developing further back between Jez Taylor in his Phantom and Club Commodore Mike Gower in his Contender. These 2 were never more than a few boat lengths apart over the entire race, with Gower holding the advantage upwind and Taylor quicker on the downhill stretches. Brown/Boyes continued to pull away and eventually finished with a healthy lead over Feilden/Symes.

On corrected time Greg and Ollie saved their time and took 1st place with Taylor 2nd and Feilden/Symes 3rd.

Thirty seconds before the start of the second race the wind shifted and most of the fleet found themselves struggling to lay the startline, those that did and headed to the left handside of the beat found themselves in a good position at the windward mark and the Javelin of Brown/Norval led around from the two 5o5s. Down the reach to the wing mark Taylor pulled back places by heading low while the rest of the fleet reached off downtide. By this point Feilden/Symes had taken the lead on the water and were working hard to keep Brown/Boyes at bay.

Behind the front pair the battle for singlehanded supremacy was on again with Gower and Taylor seemingly attached by a piece of elastic and Dirk Bougard in his Musto Skiff having a good race just behind the 5o5’s on the water.

Feilden/Symes continued to protect their lead, cover tacking the Browns up the beat and holding out to take the win by 20 seconds. Bougard finished next in his Musto Skiff followed by Taylor and Gower.

On corrected time Taylor took the win with Feilden/Symes 2nd and Greg Brown and Ollie Boyes 3rd. The results mean the overall series standings are extremely close going into the final 2 races next weekend. Mike Gower holds a slender one point lead over Feilden/Symes with Taylor in 3rd.

Week 4 Results:

Spring Series Race 7
1st Greg Brown & Ollie Boyes, 5o5
2nd Jez Taylor, Phantom
3rd Hugh Feilden & Richard Symes, 5o5

Spring Series Race 8
1st Jez Taylor, Phantom
2nd Hugh Feilden & Richard Symes, 5o5
3rd Greg Brown & Ollie Boyes, 5o5

Results after Race 8:

1st Mike Gower, Contender, 14pts
2nd Hugh Feilden & Richard Symes, 5o5, 15pts
3rd Jez Taylor, Phantom, 25pts

The Spring Series concludes next weekend with the final 2 races and all still to play for. The first start will be at 11am. The following bank holiday weekend the club have their Spring Regatta on Sunday and Monday with a number of Phantoms expected to join the racing on Monday after their Open at Great Yarmouth and Gorleston on Sunday.

The kitchen and bar will be open from 1pm and the bar is now open 7days a week from 7pm-10pm.

For more details, and photos of last weekends racing (all 165 of them) see the club's website.