Horning Sailing Club Open Dinghy Weekend
by Holly Hancock 15 Sep 2014 07:38 BST
13-14 September 2014
Horning Sailing Club's Open Dinghy Weekend started on Saturday afternoon in near perfect conditions, a steady breeze blowing across Hoveton Little Broad providing pleasant conditions. The Enterprise fleet saw good competition between Ezra Bailey, brother Joel and Roger Hannant (all HSC), with the boats neck and neck until the second buoy, after which Roger took penalty turns for a rule infringement, allowing Ezra through, but his lead was short lived as he took the wrong course and enabled Roger to go back past!
The Allcomers B Fleet saw a mix of Lasers, Solos and Splashes, with Jonas Osborn and Anna Bunn (both HSC) both taking a race each in their Lasers. Allcomers C were split into a Gold and Silver fleet. Ellie Edwards, (Beccles) took an early lead in the Gold fleet with two wins, and Jack Barnham (HSC) achieving a similar feat in the Silver Fleet.
On Sunday 10 Enterprises competed for the Woodcock Salver, three visiting boats from Ely, Dabchicks and Beccles, and seven from Horning. With stronger winds than Saturday, conditions were challenging for even the most skilled sailors, let alone Horning's young contingent of Enterprise sailors, with several ten and eleven year olds helming and crewing boats.
Unexpected gusts during the first race meant that three Enterprises capsized, but these all continued to sail during the day. Two wins and a third earned Kevin Edwards, crewed by daughter Pippa (Beccles) the Flirtatious Cup, whilst second overall were Brian and Linda Cummings (Dabchicks) with a first, second and third, and third overall Kevin Bilham and Jamie Cammann (Ely SC) with two seconds and a third.
Whilst the more experienced sailors fought it out at the front of the fleet, there was still a good battle further back, with Ezra Bailey and Roger Hannant providing a good tussle for first Horning boat, none more so than in the fourth race, where Ezra broached and filled the boat with water on a run to the final buoy but managed to make it over the finish very low in the water, just ahead of Roger. It was eventually Roger crewed by George Mardle who took HSC's Flying Enterprise Trophy, counting their wins from Saturday. Similarly racing between Jack Copping and Edward Wildman was particularly close, perhaps due to Edward's twin brother Thomas crewing Jack! The Cadet Trophy for Under 16 helm and crew went to eleven-year old Edward Wildman crewed by Toby Pearce, a very young team with a combined age of just 21!
The competitors were also joined by four Bittern sailors from local clubs, including the Norfolk Punt Club and Frostbites. Although four originally ventured out, after the first race the two single-handed sailors joined forces to make a team, and the pattern of John Atkinson, followed by Paul Tegerdine and Bill Sowells followed for the remaining two races, John collecting the Bittern Cup for his efforts.
In the Gold Allcomers C fleet, another two wins were enough for Ellie Edwards to win the fleet overall, despite tough competition from Natalie Stiff (HSC) and Abi Holden (HSC), Natalie taking the Club's Cadet Cup, meanwhile in the Silver fleet Jack Barnham secured two further firsts, although Josh Palmer put up good competition in his Topper. Another two firsts for Anna Bunn resulted in her being awarded the Tino Trophy, whilst Jeremy Tusting took the Allcomers B Onyx Barometer.
Open Dinghy Weekend Trophies:
- Flying Enterprise – Enterprise 22355 (Roger Hannant & George Mardle)
- U16 Cadet Trophy – Enterprise 16629 (Edward Wildman & Toby Pearce)
- Allcomers B – Onyx Barometer – Solo 2340 (Jeremy Tusting)
- Tino Trophy – Laser 183344 (Anna Bunn)
- Topper Silver Fleet – Topper 19388 (Jack Barnham)
- Topper Gold Fleet – Topper 45701 (Ellie Edwards)
- Cadet Cup – Topper 45028 (Natalie Stiff)
Open Trophy – Woodcock Salver, Flirtatious Cup and Crew
1st Kevin & Pippa Edwards (Beccles)
2nd Brian Cummings & Linda Cummings (Dabchicks)
3rd Kevin (Ely) & Jamie Cammann
Bittern Cup
1st John Atkinson
2nd Paul Tegerdine
3rd Bill Sowell