Flying Fifteen Midwinters at Datchet Water Sailing Club
By Richard Jones on 29 Jan28-29 January 2012
The Flying Fifteen Midwinters concluded at Datchet on 28th/29th January. On Saturday, sailing in gentle breezes, race officer Phil Tinsley successfully set out to complete four races... in the threat of zero breeze on Sunday.
Seventeen teams entered the event, including eight visitors. Each race on Saturday tended to be dominated by one team each race, with intense racing and much place changing in the following pack. However, each of those races was won by a different team, leading to an extremely close overall ranking.
Race one was an absolute walk-away for Belgian Champions, Anthony Usman and and Andrew Murphy of Datchet and Parkstone. They simply tore away from the fleet. Their luck was not to last, when they picked up a hole and many gallons of water in the stern tank which cramped their style a little.
Race two saw a complete change of the leading order - it was the turn of Hamish McKay and Andrew Layson to storm into the lead, and they really packed in a great set of results by the end of the day, discarding a 6th. Race three proved a touch tighter, but twice Midwinter Champions, Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas pushed their way through and made a good job of the third race - in their case discarding a fifth at the end of the day.
Not to be left out, Chris and Tom Waples flew the flag of the Waples family fleet and, almost at sunset, carried off a great win in race four.
This left an incredibly close overall picture at the end of day one - the superbly consistent Ian Cadwallader and David Sweet were holding third overall (8 points), with a 3,3,2 net result. They were just one point behind Hamish McKay and Andrew Layson... and Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas both on 7 points.
Day two dawned with fog and very little wind. By 11am the Committee threw in the Race Towel and cancelled racing for the day. Our Midwinter winners were Hamish McKay and Andrew Layson (4,1,2) on countback from Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas (2,1,4).
Overall Results:
1st 3788, Hamish McKay & Andrew Layson, 7pts
2nd 3937, Simon Kneller & Dave Lucas, 7pts
3rd 3942, Ian Cadwallader & David Sweet, 8pts
4th 3716, Chris Waples & Tom Waples, 12pts
5th 3965, Anthony Usman & Andrew Murphy, 12pts
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