Osprey Panmorra Cup and Open at Mount's Bay Sailing Club
by Kevin Francis, Osprey 1296 7 May 2014 16:14 BST
3-4 May 2014
Ten boats gathered in the dinghy park at Mount's Bay Sailing Club for the annual open meeting over the weekend of the 3rd & 4th of May. Some regular crews were missing due to attending another Osprey event for the newly launched Lakes and Borders series at Kielder, such is the spread of this National class.
Lightish winds and fair weather signalled that all crews would be operating at maximum ability but some questioned Pete Grieg's & Jonathan Osgood's thinking when seen consuming almighty Cornish Pasties just prior to launch, they clearly knew something that the rest didn't though as the tight reaches soon took their toll on the lighter crews who's effort to compensate with chocolate bars just didn't have the desired effect.
With all crews operating at maximum it was no surprise to see many boats arriving at the windward mark together, the Cooney, Frith partnership still demonstrating dominance but plenty of places changing behind. By the latter part of day 1 the wind had increased slightly resulting in the home club Cornish duo of Steve George and Mike Grieg finding their form to lead the pack to victory in race 3.
Post racing, the lovely ladies of Mounts Bay provided food and Mike Grieg doubled up as barman for the night, with a view from the club like no other it is always a magical place to reflect on the day.
Day 2 proved very similar for wind and weather, Basher Marshall and Pete Grieg sailed consistently and handed out a timely reminder to the crew of 1296 to thumb through the rules again having pushed them wide of the leeward mark to claim a 2nd place finish in race 01 on the Sunday. Kev Francis and Phil Male (1296) had made a fatal error on day 1 by using a kite that only serious pasty eaters should consider and paid the price, Kevin had to reequip the boat with a new pram and toys following this but the smaller kite on day 2 made everything all right again. With the wind shifting and changing in pressure the opportunities for crews to make big gains was shown by George and Harry Odling in the legendary Infidel who were very quick up the beats as was Paul Heather and Jonathan Osgood who made a blinding start to the last race and promptly disappeared to win by an impressive margin, really good to see, well done boys.
Alex and Nick Willis were never far away and it was great to see John Mathews and Nick Medlicott taking to the water even though the cordless drill was never far away from the boat!
Full results can be found here.