British Moth Sommerville Series at Hunts Sailing Club

British Moths at Hunts © Jeannette Chin

British Moths at Hunts © Jeannette Chin

As the battered competitors for the Sommerville Travellers Series, prepared for the second Open meeting of the weekend - a little worse for wear from the previous day's meeting at Cam SC.

Having to endure another day of testing conditions for both man and machine. With a base wind around F5 it was the almost continuous stream of gusts that presented plenty of high speed planing and with a couple of gybe marks thrown in created great opportunities for crash and burn racing.

The first race cast the pattern for the day with Toby Cooper of Broxbourne SC in a class of his own giving the rest of the fleet a master class in heavy weather sailing. Local boy Colin Hall survived long enough to grab second at the finish with another local Ed Deacon third. Despite the ferocious conditions, only three boats retired.

The second race saw Cooper blitz off into the far distance and the question was who would be next best? Hall was already in trouble with progressive gear failure. Deacon came through for a second place with another local Richard Keefe claiming third.

With a slightly wounded Cooper having sealed the day sat out the final race. Mark Wiltshire from the ASBO SC finally show his talent for a well-deserved win with Keefe improving with each race for a second and Deacon another third.

The women were having a tough day with the conditions with Abby Freely from Hunts getting the better of Elaine Laverty of Mid Warwickshire YC.

It was a very bent and battered lot of Moth sailors who headed home with plenty of stories to tell of the 'I can't believe a mast can bend that much without breaking' or 'I was planing absolutely flat out and then the boat started to accelerate!'

Overall Results: