Comet Open at Hunts Sailing Club

by John Coppenhall 22 Apr 2013 13:37 BST 21 April 2013

Twenty competitors took part in the Comet open meeting held at Hunts Sailing Club. The helms were greeted with a sunny day and a force 2 to 3 from a relatively constant direction.

The first race got under way in slightly less wind with the occasional extra puff coming through which on the downwind legs meant that some of those from the rear of the fleet caught up. There was close racing throughout the fleet with half the fleet having been previous winners at open meetings. Nigel Austin (Cransley) led for the first 2 laps followed by Chris Robinson (Burghfield) and Michael Ettershank (Eyott). On the final lap they were all overtaken by Brain Welham (Maidenhead), Henry Jaggers (Beer) and Eddie Pope (Ogston) who finished in that order.

The wind had increased slightly by the start of race 2 and the course had been tweaked by the race officer. Pope had taken the lead of the race by the end of lap 1 closely followed by Welham. Peter Mountford (Staunton Harold) was in 3rd followed by Andrew Keynes (Crawley Mariners) in 4th. Pope held the lead to the end. Welham finished 2nd having worked his way back from 4th. He passed Mountford who finished 3rd and Robinson who finished 5th. Ettershank had steadily worked his way up to 4th by the end of the race.

Race 3 saw the wind increase to force 3 to 4 and there was a course change. Pope was leading at the second mark followed by Ettershank and Mountford. However he then took the wrong course allowing Ettershank and Mountford through. By the end of the lap Pope had worked his way back up to second but Ettershank was some distance ahead. At the end of the next lap Ettershank was still leading but Pope had been overtaken by Mountford and Robinson. By the finish of the race Mountford was able to overhaul Etttershank to win and Pope had moved up to 3rd. As the wind had increased, 5 competitors did not venture onto the water for the final race and 3 others retired meaning that only 12 boats completed the course.

This meant that the first four Comet opens of the year have had 4 different winners.

Overall Results: (top five)

1st Brain Welham
2nd Peter Mountford
3rd Eddie Pope
4th Michael Ettershank
5th Nigel Austin