ASAP International Vortex Open at Filey Sailing Club
by Jonathan Lister 20 Jun 2008 07:29 BST
14-15 June 2008
Miles of clean golden sand and enticing sparkly blue water in the bay rewarded the Vortex fleet's first visit to Filey SC.
The first race started in a decent F3. Just before the start the wind started swinging left and the pin end was consequently very crowded; predictably many of the usual front runners were pushed over the line but Phil Whitehead timed his run to perfection and narrowly led from Jonathan Lister and Mike Gower at the windward mark. The wind continued to shift turning the leeward leg into a straight kite blast with one major obstacle - the no-go zone of the upwind gate. Phil was so wrapped up in extending his lead that he never even noticed it, Jonathan and Mike had dipped the port tackers at the hoist and were pushed below the line and consequently had to drop their kites and climb back up to the leeward mark, letting Keith Escritt and James Whitehead through. These positions were more or less maintained to the finish; Phil crossed the line with a healthy lead but to a deafening silence, Keith took the win from Jonathan and John Steward just passed James as the breeze faded on the last leg.
Heavy rain then killed the breeze and after a long wait for the wind to settle down race 2 started in a light F1-2 but with a reasonably large swell still running and some very big shifts there were great opportunities for snakes and ladders. Ian Escritt, Phil Whitehead and Ed Corteen won the start and established a comfortable lead up the first beat, meanwhile Keith was in the middle of the fleet and Jonathan was stuck in a hole at the back. Ian went hard right down hill and found enough extra wind to give him an unassailable lead at the bottom mark. Phil maintained second place and Keith, John Steward and Jonathan pulled through to get back in contention. Jonathan worked the shifts to get into second from Phil and Keith at the windward mark, but downhill he was pushed the wrong side of the no-go zone again allowing Keith and Phil to slip by and hold these positions to the gun. Controversially Keith went through the outer part of the no-go zone, but due to a contradiction between the printed RI and the verbal briefing he escaped a DSQ.
Filey SC put on a fabulous meal and social for the Saturday evening and there were a few sore heads as Sunday dawned bright and breezy - a lovely F4 from the North East with a large swell running. The 10-12 foot waves beyond the brig were perhaps the largest and certainly the steepest the fleet have raced in and there were plenty of whoops and hollers as we did a couple of practice downwind legs. Unfortunately the wind had eased back to a F2-3 by the time the first race got underway. Mike Gower and Terry Pressdee punched out into clean wind off the start line, judged the tide to perfection and rounded the windward mark neck and neck. There were some great surfing opportunities downwind allowing the usual suspects to get back in contention. Ian and Keith played leapfrog up the beats but Ian was marginally faster downwind and Phil was consistently third. Jonathan closed the gap on the last run and then sneaked into second by going left up the last beat towards the new breeze, with Phil third and Keith uncharacteristically dropping from 2nd to 4'th on the last leg.
It was now getting tight at the top, Ian was carrying a DSQ from the first race and needed every result to count. Keith and Jonathan were within one point and could still win if Ian had a slip whilst Phil could always come back if the wind freshened again. Race 4 was another cliff-hanger with Ian and Keith taking turns to lead, but Ian took the lead at the start of the last lap and held it to the finish from Keith and Jonathan.
The wind did freshen again for the last race. Phil's delight translated into a narrow lead from Jonathan and James at the first mark. Unfortunately both Jonathan and James brushed the mark and were left doing turns as Phil blasted away down wind and down tide. It was a tough choice which way to go downwind - out to sea for stronger tide and larger waves or inshore for flatter water. The right choice seemed to be different each time and the front runners changed positions several times both upwind and down, but Keith was consistently making the right choices and took the gun from Ian, followed by local star James Whitehead who was showing great boat speed in the more lively conditions.
The overall results showed Ian winning from Keith by one point, this is Ian's third Vortex open meeting on the trot, will anyone be able to beat him this year? Huge thanks to Filey SC and our fabulous sponsors ASAP International for yet another great event.
Overall Results:
Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
1st | 1183 | Ian Escritt | Yorkshire Dales | (13 DSQ) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
2nd | 1132 | Keith Escritt | Yorkshire Dales | 1 | 2 | -4 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
3rd | 1164 | Jonathan Lister | Yorkshire Dales | 2 | -4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
4th | 1045 | Phil Whitehead | Yorkshire Dales | (13 DSQ) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 16 |
5th | 1145 | James Whitehead | Filey | 4 | -7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 18 |
6th | 1205 | Jon Steward | Yorkshire Dales | 3 | 6 | 7 | -8 | 7 | 23 |
7th | 1013 | Mike Gower | Wilsonian | 5 | 8 | -9 | 7 | 5 | 25 |
8th | 1180 | Terry Pressdee | Yorkshire Dales | 6 | (13 DNC) | 5 | 6 | 8 | 25 |
9th | 1066 | Ed Corteen | Pennine | (13 DSQ) | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 33 |
10th | 1117 | Mike Collins | Yorkshire Dales | 8 | 9 | -11 | 9 | 9 | 35 |
11th | 1162 | Colin Aldred | Filey | 7 | (13 DNF) | 10 | 13 DNC | 13 DNC | 43 |
12th | 1025 | Stephen Carr | Deben YC | (13 DSQ) | 10 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 44 |