K1 Open at Wimbleball Sailing Club
by Zoe Handley 20 Apr 2013 07:43 BST
23 March 2013
The first K1 open of the year at Wimbleball © Paul Handley
The first K1 open of the season took place at Wimbleball Sailing Club in Exmoor on a chilly Saturday 23rd March. With much of the country cut off by snow it was encouraging to see 13 helms from 8 clubs taking part.
Racing got underway in a good breeze with the boats enjoying close racing and planing on the reaches. Simon Jones from the host club lead the way for a while until being passed by Neil Cooke of Tewkesbury SC. Eventually Paul Handley of Chipstead SC took the lead and Simon overhauled Neil before the finish. Mike Deane, who had dodged the snow to travel down from South Windermere SC took 4th place and Eddy Holden of Teignmouth Corinthian YC was 5th.
After lunch the course was adjusted for the second race and the wind built a little. Racing was close again with plenty of place changing, but at the end the finishing order of the top 5 was the same as the first race.
In the final race Adrian Holmes of Baltic Wharf SC and Simon Jones contested the top spot with Simon ahead at the finish. Jon Shimell of Chew Valley SC got his best result in 3rd place with the very consistent Mike Deane and Eddy Holden scoring the third 4th and 5th place respectively.
Overall Paul Handley won the event with Simon Jones second and Neil Cooke third. Our thanks go to the club for organising a great day's sailing.
A few hardy K1 sailors stayed on to compete in the Exmoor Beastie the day after despite the forecast of sub-zero temperatures and stronger wind. The sailors were greeted with boats covered by ice and during the 3 hour pursuit race ropes froze and controls became blocks of ice, so quite a challenge.
Overall Results:
Pos | Helm | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
1 | Paul Handley | X | 1 | 1 | 13 | 2 |
2 | Simon Jones | 75 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
3 | Neil Cooke | 6 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 6 |
4 | Adrian Holmes | 67 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
5 | Mike Deane | 21 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
6 | Jon Shimmell | 77 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
7 | Eddy Holden | 57 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
8 | Giles Bowerman | 56 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 13 |
9 | Colin Allen | 25 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 15 |
10 | Bob Smith/Mike Green | 58 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 15 |
11 | Dave Swordy | 36 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 16 |
12 | Chris Queree | 68 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 22 |