3000 TT at the Medway Dinghy Regatta, Wilsonian Sailing Club

The 3000 Class held its third TT event of the year as part of the Medway Dinghy Regatta, organised by Wilsonian Sailing Club over the weekend of 14th/15th July. Starts and courses were shared with the Laser Vortices, an arrangement which worked out very well, both classes having comparable speed and course requirements.

Race 1 on Saturday morning plunged competitors into a 12 mile course going well downriver and downwind in a Force 4-5. Local heroes David Fenech and Alison Williams were first to fly their kite and took an early lead while Tony Hunt and David Bourne in second place chose to drop theirs in the path of an unsuspecting Vortex, sending him into a dramatic pitchpole, necessitating a 720 and abject apologies later from the 3000 crew. The Vortex did somehow, however, claim the 3000’s Hawk wind indicator in the process...

By the bottom mark, Hunt and Bourne had taken the lead, and along with the rest of the fleet were finding things at the upper end of ‘exciting’, completing the three loops downriver before the beat home. Fenech and Williams hung on for second place, while Paul and Vicky Noble from Burghfield recovered from wrapping their spinnaker around a moored yacht at the start to take third place. Despite sailing for the first time on the Medway on a course which had even the locals re-checking their course script, Paul and Vicky navigated their way round successfully, with Vicky playing jib and spinnaker out on the trapeze and at the same time reading the laminated course sheet!

Meanwhile the third local boat Peter and Josh Heyes were having what they termed ‘a torrid time’, executing at least seven capsizes and a collision with an out-of-control Buzz, though they described the spinnaker reaches as ‘sensational’.

Graham and Ben Blake from Queen Mary and Andrew Thompson and Daniel Hollands from Hythe and Saltwood found themselves conferring on the course after the latter pair had capsized early on then blasted through the fleet to the bottom mark. More capsizes later, they found themselves close together in 5th and 6th places.

For the 8.7 mile Race 2 the wind had eased a strength and the tide turned in the same direction as the wind to give flat water for uninterrupted planing under kite for about five miles downriver. Once there, the fleet was bunched on the beat home by the outgoing tide, and the running order shaken up by some significant shifts. Hunt and Bourne just hung onto their early lead as first Fenech and Williams, then the Heyes and then the Nobles closed to within striking distance. By the finish the leaders had eased ahead again while the Heyes just pipped Fenech and Williams for second slot. The Nobles dropped to 5th behind the Blakes after being the slowest to extricate themselves from a massed grounding of the leading boats all trying to dodge the tide. Thompson and Hollands meanwhile spent the early part of the race untangling the spinnaker before catching the fleet, only to follow the grounding fad and literally stick in last place.

Race 3 next day saw a contrast with a reversed wind direction and a mere F.2 windstrength. Communication problems meant that the RO did not shorten course early, so that after a long beat downriver against the tide, no boats finished within the time limit and thus everyone received a DNF.

The Nobles and Thompson & Hollands decided they’d had enough light airs sailing and to sit out the last race, which meant the wind promptly piped up to a brisk F.4 for the start and the fleet planed almost continuously around the course under brilliant sunshine - the perfect end to a varied and often very exciting regatta. Hunt & Bourne once again led the fleet home despite trawling with their kite at one point. The Blakes, by now on top of the navigation, challenged the V3000’s of the home club to split Fenech & Williams and the Heyes across the finish line.

Overall Results:

1st Tony Hunt & David Bourne 3pts
2nd David Fenech & Alison Williams 7pts
3rd Peter Heyes & Joshua Heyes 10pts
4th Graham Blake & Ben Blake 12pts
5th Paul Noble & Vicky Noble 15pts
6th Andrew Thompson & Daniel Hollands 19pts